College Daze
by Beckyhelene
Summary: All Human. Bella Swan meets and becomes close friends with roommate Alice Cullen in college, which leads to finding herself thrust into the Cullen's elegant upper class world, a world that includes Alice's brother Edward.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: This is my first Twilight fanfic, hope you all enjoy it :)

Bella blew out a sigh as she sat back on one of the bare beds in her new dorm room, letting her eyes roam over the white walls. Once every few minutes she shifted on the mattress to check her watch and look at the door, only to sigh again and slump back on the bed. It was her first day at college and she was starting to get antsy.

After driving up first thing in the morning, hoping to get the chore of unpacking out of the way as early as possible, she had checked into her hall and found her dorm. She was both relieved and a little embarrassed to see the resident advisor, whoever it was, had gone overboard in preparation for freshman arrival by posting elaborate nametags on the doors of the floor. Though it made finding her room much easier, having to not worry about forgetting the exact room number the front desk had given her and have to run back down every five minutes to hear it again as she just had to look for the door with her name on it, she couldn't help cringe at the etched flowers surrounding her name once she found it.

Bella had stumbled into the room, wincing as the wheels of her trunk caught the back of her ankles and the strap of her duffle bag slipped from her shoulder and nearly strangled her while the papers of her orientation folder slipped out. She was greatly relived that the room was empty and she hadn't made her tripping and shuffling be the first impression her new roommate would have of her. Once she was completely within the confines of the room, she set her trunk and bag in the middle of the dorm and made the four trips needed to get the rest of her belongings out of her car. After all that, she figured in order to start on the right foot with her roommate, it would be best to wait until the girl arrived before staking any claims in the dorm and unpacking.

That was two hours ago. Now, Bella was grinding her teeth and wondering if starting on the right foot with this roommate was all that important. She didn't want to unpack, figuring that, with her luck, she'd only end up having to move everything if her roommate decided she wanted the bed against the right wall or the desk against the back wall of the room, or the dresser nestled in the corner. And while she was afraid of what consequences she would meet in unpacking, she also did not want to take the time to explore the campus for fear that her roommate would arrive and take advantage of Bella's generosity and snag all the choice furniture for herself. So, instead, she had busied herself with reading her weathered copy of Wuthering Heights for the first hour and the half, and cursing this roommate's lateness the last half our.

_Where the hell __**is **__this girl? _She wondered. She was already beginning to hate whoever this Alice Cullen was, and the two hadn't even met yet.

"Emmett!" Bella's head shot towards the door as she heard a voice shrilly reprimand someone on the other side of the door, drawing closer. "Hurry up! Careful with that box!" Bella frowned as she started to have a sinking feeling that this was who she was waiting for. "Oh! Here it is!" The voice giggled. Bella winced; it was coming from right outside the door. She sighed and rose to her feet just as the doorknob was turned and the door flew open as a tiny girl with short dark hair waltzed in. She was wearing elegant black slacks and white cashmere sweater set, a pair of Channel sunglasses perched on her petite nose, obscuring her face and a Louie Vutton handbag hung from her wrist. Bella's frown only deepened as she self consciously looked down at her own attire--jeans and a brown shirt with the Forks High School logo across the chest.

"Oh!" The excited utterance tore Bella out of her self conscious thoughts and forced her to look up and see the tiny girl standing there with her sunglasses now dangling from her free hand. "Are you Isabella?" She asked, a large smile coming to her face.

"Uh, yea-"

"Move it, short stuff!" A booming voice ordered as a large man shoved past the tiny girl carrying a large box.

"Oh my god, could you _be_ any ruder?" The girl snapped, sending him a death glare before turning back to Bella. The man rolled his eyes and simply shuffled to the nearest wall, setting the box down on the floor. "I'm sorry," the girl said, addressing Bella. "Emmett can be a little…."

"Seeing as I'm doing all the heavy lifting here, the next word out of your mouth better be either wonderful, magnificent, or spectacular," he grumbled as he shuffled back out the room. Bella bit her lip to keep from chuckling.

"Oh, sweetie, go help your father with Alice's refrigerator, would you?" Said a soft voice floated from outside the door, to which Emmett simply grunted out something that sounded like 'okay' as a taller woman walked into the room. She was dressed in a cornflower blue dress that reached down to her knees. She smiled as her eyes landed on Bella. "Hello, you must be Alice's roommate," she said warmly as she came to a stop beside the tiny shrill girl.

"I was _trying_ to do introductions before Dumb Butt interrupted me," the girl huffed. The woman sighed and looked down at her diminutive companion.

"Now Alice," she gently chided. "Your brother didn't _have_ to ride up all the way with us to help you with your things, did he? Maybe it'd be best if you played nice and appreciate the gesture." Alice huffed again and crossed her arms over her chest, making her handbag gently hit her side. Bella nervously shoved her hands in her back pockets.

"Um," she began, "hi, I'm….Bella," she said, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The girl's lit up as the smile returned to her face.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, practically skipping over to Bella. "Bella, that's so pretty," she chattered. "Well," she giggled. "Actually, it's beautiful, you know, since bella is the Italian word for beautiful…well, it's pronounced a little differently, but…you know what I mean," Bella's eyes widened and she took a small step back, totally overwhelmed by the chatty person.

"Uh, yeah," Bella muttered.

"I'm Alice," she said, closing the space between them and throwing her arms around Bella's neck. Bella gave a small gasp as Alice pulled her into an excited hug. "I just know we're going to be best friends!"

"Uh….sure?" Bella said, uncertain how else to respond. Alice giggled and released her.

"Oh, don't let Alice frighten you," the woman said with a gentle chuckle. "She's just a little excited about starting college." Bella chuckled and gave a small nod.

"I'm not scaring her, mom," Alice groaned. The woman simply chuckled as she crossed over to the two girls.

"Its okay, Mrs. Cullen," Bella stated.

"Oh, please, call me Esme," the woman corrected, sticking her hand out to her. Bella smiled and slipped her hand into hers.

"Alright, Esme," Bella said. Alice looked past Bella to see the boxes sitting on the edge of the nearest desk and the luggage on the floor.

"Did you just get here?" She asked, looking at Bella, giggling. "Oh my gosh, wouldn't it be funny if we passed each other on the road and didn't even know it?"

"Oh, no, actually…I've been here for a while," Bella replied. "I just…wanted to be fair…and wait till you got here before picking my bed and all that," she concluded, shrugging. Alice's eyebrows shot up so far it seemed like they were actually trying to disappear into her hairline.

"Oh. My. God," she said. Bella frowned.

"I…I'm sorry," she stammered, casting a confused glance at Esme hoping Alice's mother could provide some clarification. "Was I….not supposed to wait?"

"You are just……so nice!" Alice squealed, launching herself onto Bella once again.

"Oh," Bella replied, still having trouble getting used to the hugs.

"Oh my god, I was so worried I'd get some evil bitch for a roommate," Alice babbled as she released Bella. "I am _so _glad that's not the case," she grinned. Bella couldn't help return the grin.

"Well, I'm happy you don't have to worry anymore," Bella replied. Alice giggled before stepping away from Bella and Esme as she walked across the room, seeming to carefully eye the four walls and everything in it.

"We're so sorry you had to wait on the account of us," Esme said, stepping closer to Bella. Bella looked over to her. "It was a long drive," she explained.

"Oh no, don't worry about it," Bella stated, shaking her head. As much as the two hours of waiting had irked her nerves, Bella found it damn near impossible to hold onto any sort of grudge standing in the same room as Esme's warm gaze and Alice's excitement.

"Isn't she the sweetest?" Alice commented to her mother as she took a pause from her inventory of the room. Bella's cheeks blushed at the compliment.

"So, how far of a drive was it for you guys?" Bella asked. Her attention was then grabbed by the return of Emmett as he backed into the room carrying one end of a mini fridge, followed by an older blonde man carrying the other end.

"Careful son," the man advised, trying to hide the strain from his voice as he spoke.

"I got it dad," Emmett replied, having no trouble with the weight unlike his father.

"Oh we've been on the road since Wednesday," Alice replied, drawing Bella's attention back to her. Bella tilted her head, surprised. _They have been driving since Thursday? But today's Saturday, _she thought.

"Oh….wow….that's a long drive," Bella replied. Behind her she could hear the two men set the mini fridge down.

"Yes," the blonde man finally spoke as he walked over to stand beside Esme, "it probably would've been more practical to fly," he commented before wearing a sheepish smile. "But Alice wanted the whole going to college experience….including parents driving her all the way up to the campus," he said.

"I didn't know the college experience included roping the brother into the psycho road trip," Emmett muttered. Alice frowned before opening her mouth to shoot out a mean reply.

"Alice, sweetheart, remember what I said," Esme stated. Alice sighed and nodded. She walked over to her brother's hulking frame. Bella couldn't help but be shocked by their height difference as Alice barely came up to his armpit in her expensive looking high heels.

"I'm glad you came with us," Alice stiffly recited, looping her arms around his midsection in a hug. Emmett chuckled.

"How much did mom pay you to say that?" He teased as his arms went around her tiny frame to return the hug. Alice rolled her eyes and stepped away from him as the two adults gently laughed at their two children before attention was returned to Bella.

"Oh, I'm Bella," she said, extending a hand to the man standing beside Esme. He smiled and shook her hand.

"Bella Swan," Alice cooed a sparkle of mirth in her eyes as she recalled the last name spelled out on the door. "Isn't that just _so _pretty?" She asked. Bella's blush returned tenfold at that.

"It seems our daughter is quite taken with her roommate, Carlisle," Esme said, causing her husband to chuckle.

"Seems like it,' he said. "It's very nice to meet you, Bella," he said. Alice shrugged.

"Well, it's your fault for never giving me a sister," Alice teased her parents before looking back at Bella. Bella shot a glance at Emmett.

"Should I be afraid?" She asked. Emmett threw his head back and let out a loud barking laugh.

"I like her," he said, pointing to Bella. Alice pouted and gave him a small shove.

"Why don't you just go back to bringing my stuff up from the car," she said. Emmett glared at his sister.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked. Alice sighed, rolling her eyes again.

"Please," she said behind clenched teeth. Emmett grinned.

"Much better," he replied as he ruffled Alice's hair.

"Hey!" She shrieked, shying away from him. Emmett chuckled and left the room.

"Well, we should finish up unloading the car if we want to get back on the road before it's too late," Carlisle said, placing a hand on his wife's back. Esme nodded in agreement.

"Do you need any help?" Bella offered, which resulted in another squeal of delight from Alice.

"You are so sweet!" Alice proclaimed. Esme laughed and shook her head.

"Thank you, dear," she said. "But we can manage. Why don't you and Alice just stay here and start getting acquainted while we bring her things in?" She suggested. Bella's eyes widened a bit both out of being taken aback and feeling some fear about being left in a room with the perky little pixie.

"Oh, okay," Bella finally managed. Esme placed a gentle pat on Bella's shoulder before she and Carlisle left. Bella shot an apprehensive look towards Alice. "So…uh…." Bella began, trying to think of what to say. "I…..see you brought a fridge," she muttered lamely. Alice looked back at the small refrigerator before looking back at Bella with a nod.

"You can totally use it if you want," she said. "I mean, I really don't think I'll fill it up all by myself." Bella smiled.

"Thanks," she said. Alice smiled and strode across the room, taking Bella's hand and leading her to the bed she had been sitting on while waiting for the Cullens to arrive.

"Okay," she said as she sat down on the mattress and brought Bella down with her. "Tell me everything there is to know about Bella Swan," she said, smiling brightly, causing Bella to blush and nervously chuckle yet again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh," Bella said, getting over her initial nervous reaction. "I'm really not all that interesting," she shrugged. Alice shook her head.

"I doubt that's true," she said, a small giggle in her tone. Bella gave a tight smile and looked away, causing Alice to frown and let go of her hand. "Oh, I'm sorry; I'm being pushy and weird, aren't I?" She asked. She sighed and shifted away from Bella so as not to be too invasive to the other girl's personal space. "You must be thinking 'oh my god, do I really have to live with this weird speed freak for an entire year?'" Bella looked at her as Alice gave a small shrug. "I just…got kind of overexcited about….you know, getting to have a roommate….But, I shouldn't have just assumed we'd be best friends or anything." Bella pursed her lips, her shoulders slumping a bit as she realized she'd somehow hurt the little pixie's feelings. _Crap, this isn't going well, _she thought to herself.

"N-No, Alice, I don't think you're a 'weird speed freak'," Bella assured her. She gave her a small friendly smile. "It's my fault, I'm just…." She let out a sound that was part chuckle and part puff of air. "A little overwhelmed here," she said. Alice looked up at her.

"Overwhelmed?" She asked. Bella cringed, fearing she'd used the wrong word.

"No, no, no, I don't mean it in a bad way," she quickly said, backpedaling so fast she could've shot through the wall if she were able. She took a deep breath. "You're just…..um……really……excitable……and I'm….not excitable……..but it doesn't mean I think you're weird or…don't want to be your friend…" Alice tilted her head as she peered curiously at Bella as she tried to get her point across. Bella sighed in defeat and shook her head. "I'm not going to camp out at the housing office to get a new roommate or anything, if that's what you're worried about," she said. Alice grinned. _Okay, the perky pixie has returned, I'm not a shithead, awesome_, Bella internally rejoiced.

"Great!" Alice said. She went to hug Bella again before pausing, unsure if she should hug her again. Bella laughed and gave a small shrug.

"Go ahead, I know you want to," she said with a friendly groan. Alice giggled and gave her a tight hug.

"I promise," she said once she let Bella go, "I'm not usually this….hug crazy, I think it's just…all the…"

"Excitement?" Bella supplied, to which Alice nodded.

"Yeah. And you know what, if I ever start to get……too overwhelming again…..just tell me," Alice said, shrugging, "I'll tone it down." Bella laughed and nodded.

"I'll remember that," she said. Alice smiled before tilting her head again as her eyes wandered across the room. She rose to her feet and wandered over to the bed situated against the opposite wall. Bella was relieved to see that she was momentarily sidetracked from needing to know 'everything there is to know about Bella Swan'.

"Hey," Alice called over her shoulder, dragging Bella out of her thoughts. She turned to face her as a tentative smile came to her lips. "Would it be okay if I take this side of the room?" She asked. Bella blinked. She was almost expecting there to be a need for some sort of discussion as to who could get what furniture. "I mean, if you want it, it's so totally yours," Alice quickly added, taking Bella's expression to be leading to a negative response. Alice gave a small sheepish shrug. "My room back home, it's on the left side….so…." Bella quickly waved her hands, signaling she didn't need to hear another word.

"It's yours," she said. She smiled. "I kind of had my sights set on this side, to be honest," she admitted, gently patting the mattress she was sitting on. Alice let out a small round of giggles.

"Oh my god, how perfect of a match are we?" She asked.

"Sweetheart," Carlisle called as he walked into the room carrying a large box. "Which desk is yours?" He asked. Alice went over to her father, pointing out the desk against the same wall as the door. Carlisle seemed relived to see that he only had to carry the box to the side as supposed to going to the other end of the room. He set the box down. "Do you need help setting up your computer?" He asked as Alice began opening the box up. Alice shook her head.

"No thanks, daddy," she said. She looked back at Bella. "Do you need any help with yours?" She asked. Bella shook her head.

"No, thanks, it's just a laptop, pretty simple….plug in….open….and all that," Bella said, cringing a bit at how lame she must've sounded.

"Alright then, guess I'll go help your brother with the TV," he said before leaving again. Bella stood up from the bed as Alice busied herself with pulling out her keyboard and speakers from the box her father had brought in.

"A fridge _and _a TV?" Bella commented as she went over to her own desk and began opening one of the boxes on it. Alice paused and looked back at Bella.

"Oh is it too much? I could ask my parents to take some stuff home with them…" Alice fretted. Bella laughed and shook her head.

"Don't you dare," she said. Alice's face quickly brightened as she gave a swift nod.

"So, would it be safe to assume the DVD player would be welcomed as well?" She slyly asked. Bella froze and slowly turned to gape at her.

"…..You of course do realize that you're never getting rid of me, right?" She kidded. Alice giggled.

"Goody," she said just as Esme came in with a suitcase in each hand. "Oh, mom, just put those by my bed for now," she commented, pointing to the bed she had claimed. Esme moved over to the empty bed and set the suitcases beside it.

"You don't want me to help you unpack?" She asked, a definite frown in her tone. Alice turned to look at her mother.

"Oh," she said, pursing her lips. "I didn't want to hold you guys up," she commented. Bella returned to pulling out her laptop from the box she had opened as the mother and daughter chatter go on behind her. From what Bella gathered through the art of overhearing, it was clear that Alice was the youngest in the family and Esme seemed hesitant to not be involved in as much as she possibly could before leaving. Bella made a mental note to inquire where it was exactly these people were form that made weekend visits home a less than likely occurrence. After some back and forth Esme retreated to get more of Alice's things.

"Sorry about that," Alice apologized. Bella simply shrugged, unsure what it was Alice needed to be sorry for. "I think my mom's feeling a little sad that she couldn't do this with Edward so she's trying to overcompensate with me," she murmured.

"Edward?" Bella asked, confused as to who Alice was talking about. Alice shook her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she gushed, feeling silly. "Edward's my brother." Bella furrowed her brows.

"You mean Emmett?" She asked, beginning to wonder if she was too quick to call this girl 'not weird'. Alice giggled.

"I have two brothers, silly," she said. Bella blinked.

"Oh…….right, sorry," she said, suddenly feeling several different kinds of stupid.

"He wanted to come help with the move," Alice said, feeling the need to explain Edward's absence. "But he had to get back to England."

"England?" Bella asked as she set her laptop on the desk and began pulling out the power cord.

"Mmhmm," Alice said. "He goes to a music conservatory in London," she said. Bella nodded.

"Wow, that's impressive," she said, putting one end of the power cord into the laptop and bending down to reach behind the desk for the outlet.

"He's a whiz on a piano," Alice went on to inform, resulting on more nodding from Bella. "His place is really nice," Alice said. "He has this nice little flat in the city….so cute," she said, a bright smile on her face. "I spent the first half of the summer there visiting him. It was my first time going there since he moved out of the dorms last summer," Alice explained. She paused for a moment, causing Bella to look up from her outlet search. Alice had a strange expression on her face. It looked troubled, sad, lost. Bella frowned and rose to her feet.

"Alice?" She asked, going over to her. She placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Alice, are you okay?" She asked worriedly. Alice blinked and looked at her.

"What?" She asked, almost confused as to how Bella had gotten from the desk to standing right in front of her.

"Are you okay? You kind of spaced out for a moment," Bella said. Alice blinked, taking in Bella's word, processing them, seemingly rolling them over in her mind. She gave a slow nod.

"Yeah, sorry, just….blanked out for a second," she admitted, stepping away from Bella and turning back to the desk behind her. "Um, so….," she mumbled, shaking her head. "Sorry, what was I saying?" She asked, giving a small nervous chuckle.

"You were talking about visiting your brother," Bella replied. "Alice, are you sure you're okay?" She asked. Alice looked back at her. She gave a small smile.

"I'm fine, but thanks for asking," she said sincerely. Bella nodded.

"So, um….England, was it fun?" Bella asked as she walked back to her own desk. Alice gave a tiny laugh, a laugh that sounded a lot like the Alice Bella had grown accustomed to in the small amount of time around her. _Welcome back, perky little pixie, _Bella thought to herself as she bent down beside her desk again.

"_So_ much fun!" Alice replied. "Edward felt so guilty that he couldn't make it home for my graduation," Alice explained. "He practically ordered me to come visit him so he could make it up to me," she giggled. "So, I went out to stay with him for a few weeks, and then he came back home with me so he could hang out with all of us before his next term started," Alice continued. Bella smiled, partly from how Alice talked about her brother. It sounded like the two were very close. And partly because her outlet search finally bore some fruit and she could slip the plug into the wall.

"Wow, my mom missed my graduation," Bella said, getting back up to her feet. "All I got out of that was a phone call and a promise for a shopping trip the next time I visit her in Florida," she frowned. "Sounds like you got the better outcome of the whole 'family member missing graduation' thing," she joked. Alice laughed.

"Hey, don't knock mom sponsored shopping trips," Alice said, playfully wagging her finger at Bella.

"_You_ certainly don't," came Emmett's straining teasing voice as he entered the room, single handedly carrying the decent sized television set on his own. It wasn't incredibly huge but it was by no means small either.

"Is dad bringing up the TV stand?" Alice asked. Emmett groaned as he shifted the television, careful not to drop it but clearly beginning to tire under the weight. Bella quickly sprang into action and unplugged her laptop, moving it to her bed.

"Here, put it down over here," she offered, gesturing to her now empty desk. Emmett heaved a grateful sigh and moved to the desk, carefully setting down.

"Thanks," he said before turning back to his sister. "And to answer your question, dad's comforting mom because she's upset over _someone _saying she didn't want her help unpacking," he said, his tone close to scolding his little sister. Alice frowned.

"I didn't _say_ I didn't wanther help," Alice said. She sighed. "Why is mom getting so bent out of shape?" She grumbled.

"Face it kid, you're the baby of the family. House's going to be kinda empty from now on. Mom's not all that happy about it," he said with a small shrug. Alice looked down. Emmett sighed, shaking his head. "Not your fault," he added. "But maybe you should go downstairs anyway," he said. Alice nodded. She turned to leave the room before stopping and looking back at Emmett and Bella.

"No telling my new roomie embarrassing stories about me while I'm gone," she ordered. Emmett gave a barking laugh, much like he had before.

"I make no promises," he said. Alice stuck her tongue out at him before striding out of the room.

"You guys all seem really close," Bella commented. Emmett nodded as he walked over to Alice's desk. He figured since he was there he'd help with more heavy lifting by pulling the large computer tower out of the box his father had brought up.

"I feel bad though," he admitted. "I mean, we're all spread out now….Alice is here, our brother Edward's all the way in England, I—hey, would you mind helping me with this?" He asked.

"Oh, sure," Bella said, going over to Emmett.

"Thanks just hold the box down while I pull this out," he said, his hands squeezing into the box and taking hold of the computer. Bella nodded and took hold of the box. "Anyway," Emmett continued as he lifted the computer out, "Ed's in England, I go to school in Indiana. I mean, Alice's so over the top I think she made up for me and Edward not being home before," he chuckled, setting the computer on Alice's desk. "Now, I'm almost afraid the only time mom's going to be happy is when we're on school breaks," he said.

"Oh," Bella said. Emmett shook his head.

"I don't mean to make it seem like mom's like unstable or anything," he said, chuckling. "She's just….one of those moms that……..is really into being a mom, ya know?" He said. Bella nodded.

"Oh, yeah, totally," she said. _Not at all, what's that like? _

"But you know what, now that I think about it, she'll be okay," Emmett idly muttered as he reached in the box to bring out Alice's computer monitor. "Dad'll make sure she doesn't get too gloomy," he said in a certain tone.

"Dad'll make sure who doesn't get too gloomy?" Carlisle's voice rang out as he entered the room carrying a large rectangular box under his arm.

"Is everything okay downstairs?" Emmett inquired as he took the box out of his father. Carlisle nodded.

"She started feeling better once Alice promised to call home every day," he chuckled. Emmett nodded and sat down on Alice's bed, placing the box between his legs as he began to open one of the ends. Carlisle turned to Bella.

"Bella, I would like to apologize for holding you up. If you like, I could call your parents and speak with them myself. I'd hate for them to get the wrong impression." Bella gave him a blank look, confused as to what her parents had to do with anything.

"My parents?" She asked. Carlisle nodded. "Why would you need to speak with my parents?" She asked. Bella suddenly felt like she was back in high school sitting in the principal's office, horrified that her father would be called over her horrendous grades in gym class.

"Well, to apologize for making them wait," Carlisle explained as if it were obvious. Bella stared at him for a long while before finally realizing what he was implying. He thought her parents had come up to campus with her, just like he and his wife had for Alice, but left after getting fed up with waiting for the Cullens to arrive.

"Oh," Bella finally said. "No, no," Bella said. "They didn't….." She paused, suddenly feeling self conscious, like she was some pathetic little orphan for moving into her college dorm all alone. "They couldn't make it," she muttered, stuffing her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. Carlisle's eyebrows rose a bit before an abashed look donned his features.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried…….or assumed…….that was rude of me," he said. Bella shook her head.

"It's okay. My dad wanted to come," she said, giving a small nod, hoping that expressing that a parent did want to accompany her would make her seem less pathetic. "But he had to work." Carlisle nodded.

"Ow, damnit!" Emmett exclaimed. Bella turned back to look at him. He was busy putting together what looked like a small TV stand. Well, actually now he was painfully waving his right hand before sucking his thumb into his mouth. "Stupid pinching piece of crap," he muttered. "Damn you IKEA," he cursed before going back to his work.

"Everything all right over there, son?" Carlisle asked, trying to hold back his snicker.

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett replied. Bella couldn't help chuckle a bit at his expense. She quickly covered her mouth and gave an apologetic look when he stopped to throw her a glare.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"So, Bella, where are you from?" Carlisle asked, bringing her back into their conversation.

"Forks," she replied. "It's this little town not too far from here," she went on to explain. Carlisle nodded.

"You know, I think we passed by it on the way here," he said. "The scenery did look lovely," he added, "very lush." Bella chuckled.

"You'd have to thank the constant rain for that," she commented wryly, causing Carlisle to chuckle. Behind him, Esme and Alice returned to the room. Alice carried a medium sized elegant metal case in each hand while her bother carried a box in her arms.

"Oh, Esme, you should've let me get that," Carlisle stated as he went over to his wife and took the box from her. Esme smiled, shaking her head.

"I'm not as weak and dainty as you'd like to think, Dr. Cullen," she teased. "I _can _actually carry things other than clothing." Carlisle grinned and ducked in, placing a quick kiss on Esme's cheek.

"Of course, my darling Mrs. Cullen" he grinned, humoring her. Esme groaned and gently smacked his shoulder. Bella smiled as she watched the two interact. They were the epitome of sweet.

"Knock, knock," a new, unfamiliar voice called as a gentle rapping sounded on the open door. Everyone turned to see a tall girl with flawless skin and long golden blonde hair flowing past her shoulders carrying a clipboard in her hand. She looked like she just walked off a fashion shoot, even though she was dressed similarly to Bella in jeans and a university t-shirt. She gave a bright, breathtaking smile to everyone. "Hi," she said, walking into the room. Her eyes focused on Bella and Alice. "I'm Rosalie Hale, the resident advisor on this floor," she said, introducing herself. _Ah, so you're the one to blame for the nametags on the door, _Bella realized.

"Hi!" Alice said, setting her two cases down on her desk chair before bounding over to Rosalie. "I'm Alice," she said, sticking her hand out. Rosalie chuckled and accepted her hand.

"Hi there Alice," she replied. She went to look at Bella. "So, I guess that makes you…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down at her clipboard. "Isabella?"

"Bella," Bella corrected. Rosalie nodded and grabbed the pen from her clipboard, making a small correction on the sheet she was looking at.

"Bella," she repeated, with another nod. She looked back up the other occupants in the room. "Well, you two are really lucky," she said, she paused as a small laugh escaped her lips. "Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it," she said. "My room's right next door, so if you guys ever need anything I'm just at the other side of that wall," she smiled, gesturing to the wall beside Bella's bed.

"Oh! It's like I've got two roommates," Alice giggled, making everyone laugh.

"Sure," Rosalie smiled, shrugging. "I'm all alone in my single, so chances are I'll be bugging you two pretty often," she chuckled.

"Well," Emmett suddenly spoke up, quickly stumbling to his feet and rushing over to Rosalie. "Since you're going to be my little sister's unofficial roommate, I think it's only right we have a proper introduction," he said, a wide grin affixing his features as his eyes took in her beauty. "Emmett Cullen," he said, taking her hand in his and bringing it up to his lips, kissing the back of her palm. Rosalie laughed and slowly pulled her hand away from him.

"Nice to meet you, Emmett," she said. The two stared at one another for a moment, Emmett's grin never leaving his face as a tiny smile graced Rosalie's lips.

"Emmett, quit flirting with my RA!" Alice exclaimed. Rosalie blushed and quickly looked away while Emmett groaned and shot Alice the hardest glare imaginable.

"Thanks, sis," he hissed as he went back to working on the TV stand. Rosalie bit her lip before looking back at the others. She was met with Esme's warm glance.

"It's lovely to meet you, Rosalie," she said, stepping forward and taking hold of her hand, welcoming her with as much tenderness as she had Bella. "I'm Esme, Alice's mother, and this is my husband, Carlisle," she said, gesturing back to Carlisle. Rosalie nodded.

"It's nice to meet you all," she said, smiling back at her. She looked at the two elder Cullens. "Now, I'd understand if you two have any questions or concerns," she said, going back into official resident advisor meeting parents mode. "Lots of parents do," she said, assuring them that should they have any fears settled, they shouldn't feel embarrassed to voice them.

"Oh, I think we're fine, thank you," Carlisle replied. He paused for a moment. "Actually," he said. "Could you tell us of any nearby restaurants?" He asked.

"There's a booklet of all the businesses close to the campus in the orientation folder," Rosalie said.

"Oh, how convenient," Esme said. "Sweetheart, where did you put your folder?" She asked her daughter.

"It's in my purse, mom," Alice replied, pointing to the Louis Vutton bag she had set down beside her desk upon her arrival. Esme nodded and went to retrieve the bag. Alice looked over at Bella. "Oh, you have to come to dinner with us," Alice gushed, grasping her friend's hand. A loud, somewhat obvious, cough came from where Emmett sat assembling the TV stand. Alice blinked and looked at Rosalie. "Oh, you too, Rosalie," she said. Rosalie smiled.

"I'd love too," she said, "but I've still got a lot of rooms to visit," she said, the regret clear in her tone.

"Aww," Alice whined gently. "Well, we could wait for you," she said. She stopped and looked back at her parents. "Right?" She said.

"Of course," Carlisle replied. "We still need to finish unloading Alice's things as it is," he added.

"Okay," Rosalie said. "Well, my cell phone number should be on the back of each of your orientation folders," she said to Alice and Bella, "I guess…if you want, give me a call and we'll see what happens?" She asked. Behind them, Emmett secretly made a mental note to himself to be sure to snag Alice's folder before he left.

"Yay!" Alice smiled. She paused and turned back to Bella. "You _are_ coming with us, right?"

"Um, sure?" She said. She gave a small snicker. "Something tells me you won't let me refuse." Alice laughed.

"You're learning fast," she said. Rosalie chuckled.

"Alright, well, I need to go back to making the rounds," Rosalie said. She peered over Carlisle's shoulder to catch one last glimpse of Emmett. "It was great meeting you all," she said. _Subtext: It was great meeting you, Emmett._

"Likewise," Esme smiled. "I do hope you'll be able to join us for dinner," she added. Rosalie returned the smile before giving a parting wave and walking out of the room.

"She seems nice," Bella noted. Alice simply nodded.

"Alright," Esme called, opening up the small booklet she found in Alice's folder and finding the section on eateries. "What is everyone in the mood for?" She asked.

"Oooh, could we do Italian?" Alice asked, her eyes alight with excitement.

"Why not," Esme grinned, flipping through the pages.

"Cantante's a good place," Bella spoke up. She gave a small shrug. "My dad and I had dinner there after we visited the campus back in April," she supplied. "It's a really nice place, and the food's pretty delicious."

"Well, then Cantante it is," Carlisle smiled. "Alright, now that that's settled, I'm going to go down and get some more of your," he said, punctuating the 'your' with a gentle tap of his finger on Alice's pert nose, causing Alice to scrunch up her face and giggle, "things," he concluded.

"I'll be down as soon as I'm done with this…._thing_…" Emmett said, gesturing to the pile of parts and screws before him. Esme shook her head.

"Oh no, honey, you just stay here. You've already done your fair share of heavy lifting, I wouldn't want you to hurt your back," she said. Emmett chuckled at his mother's concern.

"Don't worry mom, your son's spot on the football team is quite safe, thanks," he said.

"Em's on the football team at Notre Dame," Alice explained for Bella's benefit.

"I see," Bella said, with a small nod. Esme grabbed a pen from Alice's purse and drew a circle on the open page of the business booklet, no doubt marking the address for Cantante, before dog-earing the page and setting the book down on the desk.

"Alright, I'm going to go down and help your father," she said before leaving the room.

"OW! Sonofabitch!" Emmett suddenly roared as the TV stand he was trying to assemble pinched his thumb yet again. Bella and Alice laughed before shaking their heads and going to deal with unpacking their respective luggage.

--

AN: Sorry for the OOC-ness concerning Rosalie, but for the purposes of this fic, couldn't make her be the ice queen we all know and love, lol. Anyway, thank you all for the reviews of the first chapter; they made me all kinds of happy :

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter; the next will be up hopefully later on today.

Also, sorry if these chapters are a little dry and drawn out. I promise the good stuff is a-coming. Just need these chapters to set up the friendship since that leads to everything else, including the good stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

After Emmett was finally able to assemble the TV stand, a task that included a few more choice outburst and mutterings, he wheeled it around the room as Alice and Bella unpacked to make sure he had screwed in the wheels tight enough and his parents made

After Emmett was finally able to assemble the TV stand, a task that included a few more choice outburst and mutterings, he wheeled it around the room as Alice and Bella unpacked to make sure he had screwed in the wheels tight enough. He then put his hands on top of it and pushed down; testing to make sure it was sturdy enough for Alice's TV. Once he was sure the TV stand was stable, he grinned and gave a single loud clap, making Alice and Bella turn their attention to him.

"I present to you all, my masterpiece!" Emmett rejoiced, extending his arms to display the stand as if it were a fabulous work of art. Bella and Alice laughed and gave him a round of applause.

"Finally," Alice teased. "Now you can put the TV on it," she said. Emmett rolled his eyes.

"Mom said no more heavy lifting for me. So I think I can just sit back and relax," Emmett replied. Alice pouted.

"Emmett," she pleaded. "Please?" She gave him what could best be described as a 'puppy dog look'. "Pretty please?" Bella stood back and watched as Emmett was faced with Alice's look. He put on a stony expression and shook his head.

"Nope, I don't think so. So, you can just put the 'look' away now," he said. Alice did no such thing and the two seemed to be in the grips of a battle of wills before Emmett cursed and looked away. "Fine!" He growled. "Just move the damn stand to where you want it, I'll get the TV." Alice giggled and skipped over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder as she raised herself onto the tips of her toes and pulled Emmett down closer to her to place a kiss on his cheeks.

"Thank you," she said. Emmett rolled his eyes. "If it's any consolation, you _do_ hold out a lot longer than Edward," Alice grinned. Emmett shook his head and laughed.

"I wouldn't doubt that," he said as he went to pick up the TV from where he left it on Bella's desk as Alice moved the TV stand close to her desk, so it would sit directly between her bed and Bella's.

"Emmett," Esme chastised as she entered with a suitcase. "What did I say about heavy lifting?" She asked, setting the suitcase by Alice's bed as Emmett walked over to the TV stand carrying the TV.

"_She _pulled out _the look_," Emmett grumbled.

"Oh," Esme said, a small giggle leaving her lips. She shook her head and quickly composed herself, looking at her daughter. "Alice, that wasn't very nice," she said. Alice grinned and simply stepped back to make room for Emmett to set the TV down.

The following hour was filled with more trips back and forth between the car and the room by Alice's parents as Emmett hooked up Alice's TV and DVD player while Alice and Bella unpacked their things. By the time the last piece of Alice's things was brought up, Bella had filled her dresser with her things and organized her desk. She watched with shocked eyes at all the things Alice had, even more shocked at how it could all fit in their room. After all the things were brought up, Carlisle took it upon himself to hook up Alice's computer even though she had originally declined his help, as Alice and Esme worked to unpack all of Alice's clothes, chatting back and forth about what would go in her dresser and what would go in the closet meant for both of them.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear," Esme said to Bella, stopping herself before putting another one of Alice's items in the closet. "Do you need to put anything into the closet? I'm sorry; it's rude of us to take it over completely." Alice gave a surprised squeak as she too forgot about Bella possibly needing the closet.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," she said. Bella gave a soft laugh and shook her head.

"No, its okay," she said. She shrugged. "I don't really have-" she stopped as she realized all eyes were on her and her feelings of being pathetic flared up again. "Um, I'm fine," she muttered with a quick nod.

"Are you sure?" Esme asked. She looked back into the closet. "It is pretty big, we can definitely fit some of your things in here, even with all of Alice's clothes," she said with a warm smile. Bella shook her head again.

"Really, its fine, thank you," she insisted. "I really wasn't planning on using the closet."

"Oh," Esme said before going back to putting Alice's things away. Alice set down the shirt she was putting into one of her dresser draws and walked over to Bella, who was now moving things around on her desk to look busy.

"At least put your shoes in the closet or something," she said in a quiet tone as she stopped beside her. Bella looked at her. "Please?" Alice pleaded. "I'd feel bad if I took over the whole room."

"Its fine," Bella assured her, shrugging. "I don't really have that much stuff. I left my colder weather stuff in my trunk, its fine." Alice frowned.

"You'll put your coat in the closet though, right?" She said. Bella sighed. She realized Alice wouldn't let it go unless she agreed to put something of hers in the closet. She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess that's the only place it could go," she finally relented. Alice smiled and nodded.

"Oh and you'd of course need to put sweaters and stuff like that in the closet too, right?" She said. Bella cringed, realizing Alice hadn't let it go yet. As much as she did feel touched that Alice was so concerned about not taking over the closet and being considerate of Bella's needs, this conversation only further told Bella of all the things Alice had that Bella did not, like multitudes clothing that needed to be hung and could not be folded and put into a drawer or several pairs of shoes that needed to be put away and not just kicked under the bed.

"I guess," Bella finally replied. "We can fully discuss my closet needs later, okay?" Bella said, praying Alice would take the easy out and spare Bella further embarrassment. Alice nodded.

"Oh yeah, totally," Alice said. "After dinner?" she asked. Bella nodded.

"Yeah, after dinner," Bella agreed. Feeling relieved she'd at least have a few hours reprieve from the discussion. Alice smiled and leaned her head against Bella's shoulder as an arm came around to embrace her in a half hug.

"I'm so glad you're my roomie," she admitted, causing Bella to blush.

"Alice," she said, feeling awkward.

"Oh, sorry," Alice said, lifting her head up. "Too much?" She asked. Bella felt some guilt for reproaching Alice's affection.

"Just for the first day," she replied, only to have Alice's giggle fill her ear as she slipped her arm off of her.

"Right," she said with another one of her swift nods. She grinned. "I'm growing on ya, though, aren't I?" She teased. Bella couldn't help but give her a small smile.

"Unfortunately," she said, returning the teasing tone. Alice giggled again.

"Great," she said before skipping back to her dresser. Bella shook her head and moved over to her bed, pulling out the sheets and pillows she had packed.

After some more time and chatting, the Cullens had unpacked most of Alice's things and Bella had completely finished setting up her space. She looked over to Alice's side of the room and gave a small quiet rueful chuckle to herself. There was definitely no mistaking what side of the room belonged to which girl. Where Bella's end of the dorm was modestly decorated—her bed covered in tan sheets, her desk holding the essentials like her laptop and printer, a stack of paper, and a small cup filled with pens and pencils, and the top of her dresser simply holding her bag filled with toiletries—Alice's end screamed "ALICE"—she had two sets of small stackable plastic like makeshift nightstands by her bed, ivory white bed sheets, fuzzy throw pillows and a white decorative mesh hanging Emmett had tacked onto the ceiling above the bed for her that spilled down creating a small see through curtain over the bed, the desk that held more framed pictures and little do-dads than school items, and her dresser that she had covered with a decorative tapestry and placed the two metal cases she had carried up before, which Bella found out were filled with her makeup and jewelry respectively, her bag of toiletries and more framed pictures.

It all only more so drew the differences between Alice and Bella. Bella tried not to feel self conscious or resentful, but it was difficult not to feel at least somewhat intimidated by Alice and the Cullen world that was presenting itself before her.

"Okay," Carlisle said. "I think we're almost done here. Esme, why don't you phone Rosalie to see if she'll be joining us and I'll call the restaurant to make a reservation?" He said.

"I can call Rosalie!" Emmett quickly said, sounding like an excited child as he grabbed Alice's folder and fervently searched the back for the phone number. Carlisle shook his head, chuckling as he flipped open the cell phone he took out of his pocket with one hand and studied the booklet page that held Cantante's information with the other.

"If you drool over Rosalie all throughout dinner, I'll be forced to kick you," Alice warned. Emmett glowered at her for a moment before studying the back of the folder and dialing the number.

"I think I'll take this outside," Emmett sneered before stepping out of the room as he hit the send button on this phone. Alice rolled her eyes and walked to stand beside Bella against her desk.

"He's in Indiana, he'll get over it," Bella heard Alice mutter to herself as she approached, a deep frown gracing her features.

"What was that?" Bella asked. Alice looked up at her and quickly put on a smile.

"Oh nothing," she said in a breezy tone. Bella stared at her for a moment.

"Are you sure?" She asked, noting that for the second time since she'd met the shorter girl, she had acted strangely. Alice sighed.

"Fine," she said, leaning closer to Bella and lowering her voice. "But I'm only telling you this because you're my soon to be best friend," she said. Bella blew out a small laugh and nodded.

"Alright," she said. Alice sighed.

"Rosalie seems….nice," she said. "Don't you think so?" Bella nodded.

"Well, the whole five minutes we've known her, yeah," Bella replied. Alice nodded.

"Yeah and….I….I'd like to be friends with her but…."

"But?" Bella asked. Alice shrugged.

"I don't like it when my friends go after my brothers," she finally admitted. She pouted as her features twisted into an abashed look. "Does that make me come off like some spoiled little brat?" She asked. Bella bit back the snort that threatened to leave her lips. _Oh no, Alice, __**that **__doesn't make you come off like a spoiled brat………Everything else does. _

"Uh, I…wouldn't know," Bella shrugged. "I'm an only child, so….can't say I've been in your shoes," she said. Alice gave a nod, her mouth forming a round O of understanding. She looked away, her face scrunching up a bit.

"I guess it's hypocritical of me, though," she murmured to herself.

"How so?" Bella curiously asked. Alice blinked, as if she was shocked she had said that out loud. She looked back at Bella.

"Well….I just mean that….um…." She paused a moment, casting a quick glance at her parents, who were busy talking amongst themselves to pay them any mind as they waited for Emmett to return. She brought her eyes back to Bella. "Because I want my brothers to be happy, and I want my friends to be happy. So, if they find happiness with each other…shouldn't that be something I want?" She quickly said. Bella stared at her for a moment. Something about that statement didn't totally convince her that that was the truth. But, even with that nagging doubt, she couldn't quite place a reason as to why she doubted Alice's explanation. _Oh yeah, maybe because that doesn't exactly explain how she might be a hypocrite, _her mind concluded.

"I guess," Bella finally said with a shrug. "Like I said—I'm an only child, so I really don't have any insight on that sort of thing," she told her regrettably.

"Right," Alice said, nodding. Bella bit her lip for a moment figuring she should offer something to the girl since she was being at least halfway candid.

"All I can say is…don't take your brother being into her out on Rosalie. Because, well, she does seem nice and hey, we're going to be living next door to her for this whole year, so might as well be on good terms, right?" Bella feebly suggested, shrugging a bit. She paused as her long drawn out explanation had her sounding a bit like Alice. _Jesus, just met her a few hours ago and already I'm sounding like her? _She shook her head. "I mean…don't _not _be her friend just because it might look like they're attracted to each other. It's not her fault so don't hold it against her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Alice said, giving Bella a half smile. Both girls' attention was brought back to the doorway as Emmett returned with a wide grin glued to his face. "Did you have yourself a nice conversation?" Alice teased. Emmett gave her a not too convincing glare, seeing as he was still grinning, before turning to look at his father.

"I called Rosalie and she said she's on her last few rooms and that she'll meet us there," he said. "I said we could just wait for her but she insisted," he added with a shrug.

"Maybe she wants to have her own means of getting back here just in case you're too much of a goober to be around and she needs to make an easy getaway," Alice teased. Emmett frowned and looked back at his sister, a panicked look coming across his face.

"I'm sure she just doesn't want to hold us up," Esme soothed, coming up behind Emmett and placing her arms around his shoulders in motherly affection. From Bella's spot in the room, it looked a little awkward since he was quite taller than her, but Bella figured it wasn't awkward for them. Emmett's height of course wasn't an overnight miracle and Esme seemed like the kind of mother who wasn't stingy with the hugs, so there was no doubt that though it might've required some getting used to at the boy's very first growth spurt, it was now part of the norm.

"Thank you, _mom_," Emmett said, throwing Alice a hard look. "At least someone loves me." Alice laughed.

"Yeah, when all else fails, know you'll always have at least one person who loves you," came her cheeky reply. Emmett stuck is tongue out at her. Bella laughed at the siblings' antics as her attention was grabbed by Carlisle who was smiling warmly as he gazed at his family. He had his cell phone pressed to his ear and Bella could tell from his stance he was waiting for someone to pick up the other line.

"Hello yes, I'm calling about making a reservation," he said into the phone after a while. He paused a bit as the person on the phone spoke. "For six," he said before another pause. "Hmm, twenty minutes?" he said, obviously reply to the question of what time he wanted the reservation for. After a few more words tossed back and forth through the phone, Carlisle smiled. "Yes, thank you, ciao," he said as he ended the call and looked at the others in the room. "They said they'll be able to seat us in half an hour," he announced.

"Oh, we should get going then," Esme said, slipping her arms off of Emmett's shoulders.

"Sounds good," Emmett nodded.

"C'mon, Bella," Alice said, nudging Bella's shoulder as the two stepped away from the desk. Bella smiled and didn't even flinch as Alice linked their arms together. She was finding it harder and harder to resist Alice's friendly affection, even if it came as a surprise.

--

**AN: Was planning on having this chapter be much longer and cover the rest of the evening, including dinner w/ the Cullens, but figured this was a good place to end so I could have time to come up with what to have come up during dinner. And plus, I figured if I held off posting this up any longer, a certain best friend of mine would find a way to teleport herself to my home and hold a gun to my head to keep me writing, haha. **

**Anyway, thank you all again for your wonderful reviews :-D They make the plot bunnies giggle with happiness. **

**Oh and speaking of the plot bunnies, they want me to assure you all that Alice's sort of occasional weird/cagey behavior will be explained...eventually.**

**Well, I'm off to start working on the next chapter. I can't make any promises but I'll try to have it up by tomorrow night if I can. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Before I go on, just want to address the many reviews urging the Bella and Edward meeting to come faster, haha. First of all, guys don't worry. You already know Edward's going to be in the story, so just relax. The fateful meeting is coming. In fact, I'll be nice and tell you around when it's coming--Right now, in the story, it's the start of the school year, meaning late August. Bella and Edward will not officially meet until December. We've got about 2 months of the girls' collegic lives, not to mention some important plot points (well, at least I think they're important) to cover before then. SO, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET OFF MY BACK ABOUT WANTING EDWARD AND BELLA TO MEET RIGHT NOW!! Haha, just kidding. You know I love you guys……….and if you didn't know…..well, now you do. I will tell you that after this chapter things are going to go by much faster, as in where right now it's taking 4 chapters to cover one day, one chapter could span weeks in the story. So, don't worry, the Edward and Bella meeting will happen, just be patient with me my dears. **

**Oh and btw, just so you guys know, just because there won't be an Edward/Bella meet-up until 'December' doesn't necessarily mean he's going to remain as mere mentions until then. There is that little thing that Alexander Graham Bell invented long long ago haha.**

**Which reminds me….If any of you readers happen to be from England (and from reviews, I do believe there's at least one of you) could you leave a little review or send me a PM so I can pick your brain about something? Nothing too incredibly huge just a little question or two. Oh, and if any of you happen to be from England and have traveled between there and the US (or someone who's just traveled between the two, even if you're not from England) that's even better. **

**Alright, alright, I'll finish this long author's note here and bring on what you guys are really here for--The next chapter of College Daze :)**

**Buen provecho!**

--

Bella had wondered if it would be wiser to follow them in her car, fearing that it would be a tight squeeze in the backseat with her, Emmett and Alice, especially given Emmett's size, but Esme assured her that it would be fine. Once the five of them reached the parking lot and neared the Cullens' vehicle, Bella could see Esme's point.

"It's not the most environmentally sound thing," Carlisle said as they neared the massive looking black SVU. "But short of taking two cars, it was the only thing I could rent that would hold all of Alice's things and us as well as our things for the trip," he chuckled.

"Yeah," Emmett said, "so, basically, blame the rising levels of emissions and global warming on shorty over here," he chortled as he lazily placed an arm around Alice's shoulder.

"Haha," came Alice's dry reply. Carlisle pressed a button on the set of keys in his hand, letting the alarm shut off, before pressing the button again and letting the automatic locks click off. Once the car was unlocked he opened the passenger side door with one hand while Esme placed her hand in the other and he helped her into the car. She gave a loving smile to her husband as she climbed into the seat, which he returned. In the back, Emmett opened one of the doors and practically hoisted Alice up into the seat before she slid to the other side to make room for her fellow passengers. Emmett turned to Bella.

"Need help?" He asked, offering to hoist her up like he had his sister. Bella laughed and shook her head.

"I'll manage," she said as she gripped the door with one hand and placed the other on the seat. She began to climb on only to have her clumsiness rear its ugly head and cause her foot to slip making her nearly fall out of the car. Emmett quickly caught her and helped her into the car. Bella muttered an embarrassed thank you as she slid closer to Alice before Emmett climbed in next to her with ease, pulling the door shut just as his father shut the driver side door. As Carlisle stuck the key into the ignition, Bella watched Esme take a small electronic device off the dashboard with one of her perfectly manicured hands as she opened the booklet up on her lap with the other.

"So, um," Bella spoke over the smooth sound of the engine coming to life as she turned to Alice. "I'm sorry, I feel stupid for not asking before, but where are you from?" She asked. Alice's face seemed to brighten like a 100 watt bulb at Bella starting a conversation with her as supposed to merely responding to her as she had been before.

"New York," Alice answered. Bella's eyebrows raised.

"City?" She asked. Alice smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, have you ever been there?" She asked. Bella shook her head.

"No, but I've always wanted to," she admitted. Alice grinned.

"I'll remember that," she said. Bella paled slightly as she replayed her own words in her mind and realized she must've come off sounding like she was hinting that she expected to get a trip to New York out of their roommate relationship.

"Oh, wait, I didn't mean to…" Bella began.

"Seatbelts, guys," Carlisle gently commanded, catching the younger passengers' eyes in the rearview mirror. Beside her she felt Alice and Emmett shifting in their seats as they complied with their father's order. She jumped a bit when she felt Emmett's hand brush against her hip.

"Sorry," he chuckled as he fished out her seatbelt from under her.

"God Emmett, first flirting with my RA and now feeling up my roommate?" Alice hissed, shaking her head. Bella's entire face grew hot as an intense blush crept up her neck.

"I was not feeling her up," Emmett replied. He was finally able to get the piece of the seatbelt out and placed it on her lap. "Not that I'm saying you're not….feel up worthy but…"

"Uh you know what," Bella quickly said as she quickly buckled her seatbelt. "We _really _don't need to go there," she said. Emmett chuckled and nodded.

"Horndog," Alice teased her brother as their father pulled out of the parking lot. Emmett looked at her over Bella's head.

"Don't make me come over there, shorty," he replied in kind, a playful threat lacing his words. Bella looked up to the front passengers of the car, who seemed to be drowning out their children's back and forth. Bella figured they were probably used to it by now. She idly wondered if Alice's other brother, Edward, took part in the banter or stayed out of it like the parents seemed to do.

"So, New York must be….really great," Bella spoke up, addressing Esme. Esme smiled and turned to look at her from the edge of her seat.

"Oh it is nice," she said. "If you ever do plan to visit, you really must come in the winter, it's so beautiful there that time of year."

"If you can get over black mush that used to be snow on every curb," Carlisle chuckled.

"Oh hush you," Esme replied before looking back at Bella. "The lights and the holiday window displays, it's just so magical," she went on.

"Left turn here," came a mechanical voice from the device Esme had been playing around with before. Bella quickly realized it was a GPS system as Carlisle turned the car per the voice's instructions.

"It does sound nice," Bella finally said to Esme.

"Spring's better," Alice interjected, giving a shrug. "At least I think so," she added. She turned her head to look at Bella. "All the trees in Central Park bloom and you have all these pretty colors all around you," she said.

"You just love all the sales Macy's has with all those spring dresses you like," Emmett ribbed. Alice giggled.

"Well, that has pretty colors too," she said. Bella laughed. "But the winter fashions are pretty nice too," she added, looking at her mother. "So I guess winter's not so bad," she smiled.

"In case you didn't realize it by now," Emmett said, nudging Bella to get her attention. "Alice is a shopaholic," he chuckled.

"Am not," came Alice's defensive reply.

"Now Alice," Emmett said in a cool tone. "The first step is admitting you have a problem."

"Oh leave your sister be," Esme said, reaching back to playfully smack her son's knee. "She's not so bad."

"Of course _you _would say that," Carlisle lovingly teased. Esme sat forward in her seat to fix her husband with a small glare.

"And just what are you implying, Dr. Cullen?" She said. Carlisle laughed.

"Oh nothing, dear," he said. "Just that neither of my girls shy away from being spoiled," he grinned.

"It's a woman's duty to be spoiled," Esme replied with a playful huff. _It is? _Bella idly wondered upon hearing Esme's banter. _Guess I'm not much of a woman then, _she thought, thinking to all the times she's all but refused gifts. It took her father an hour to finally get her to stop being so stubborn and accept the truck he bought for her when she first moved to Forks to live with him. "And besides, don't pretend you don't enjoy it," Esme's teasing tone continued, breaking through Bella's thoughts.

"Of course I do," Carlisle replied, taking one hand off the wheel to reach over to Esme's lap and take hold of her hand. The two body parts seemed to meld together, as if it was their purpose in life to be joined.

"Right turn here," the mechanical voice spoke. After a few more minutes of driving Carlisle pulled into the parking lot at Cantante. He found a sizeable space after a minute of driving around the lot and drove into it.

"We're here," he needlessly announced as he shut off the car and everyone unbuckled their seatbelts. Emmett, Alice and Esme pushed their doors open as Carlisle climbed out of the car. Alice placed her small hand in her father's awaiting grip before he helped her ease out from the car's height and onto the ground. Bella slid out behind Alice and was able to get out without Carlisle's help. Alice smiled and took hold of her arm again and the two made their way to the restaurant, the sound of the car doors all closing going off behind them before Emmett, Carlisle and Esme joined them. The sounds of a somewhat packed restaurant greeted them as Carlisle opened the door for the ladies to enter first.

"It sounds like this is the place to be tonight," Emmett idly commented as he followed his father in.

"Looks like it too," Carlisle replied. "I'll just go and ask about our reservation," he announced to the others as he placed a parting hand on Esme's back and made his way to the hostess's stand.

"I hope Rosalie is able to find us in all this," Emmett murmured. "Maybe I should go outside and wait for her," he said. Alice rolled her eyes.

"She'll find us, relax," she said, not bothering to hide the annoyance from her tone. They all looked forward as Carlisle returned from the hostess's stand.

"Well, we're in luck," he said. "They've been holding a table for us. Apparently none of the other parties are as big as ours," he informed. Bella scanned what little she could see of the dining room from where they stood and could see what he meant. Most of the tables were filled with at most three people: someone who looked to be starting school just like she and Alice and two parents.

"Mr. Cullen," came the voice of the hostess as she approached them. "If you……..and your party would just follow me, I'll show you to your table," she said. Bella could see that the woman seemed to be spellbound by Carlisle's appearance and seemed to almost scowl when she saw him reach down and take hold of Esme's hand.

"Thank you, dear," Esme said. The hostess's scowl deepened as her eyes narrowed on Esme. Without another word, she spun on her heel and walked towards the dining area, not bothering to look back to make sure if the others were following her.

"Well, doesn't she seem nice," Alice chuckled as they all followed the hostess as she walked to a large round table near the windows that looked out to the parking lot.

"Your server will be with you shortly," she said in a curt tone before going make to her post.

"Let's just hope our waiter doesn't have the hots for dad too," Emmett chuckled as they all took their seats.

"The hostess did not have the 'hots' for your father," Esme said, laughing lightly.

"Uh huh, sure mom," Alice replied, all but certain that her mother knew where the hostess's feelings lay.

"So, Bella," Carlisle spoke up hoping to change the subject. "Any recommendations you could offer?" He asked as he opened up his menu. Bella and the others opened theirs as well.

"Um, well," she began, scanning the menu. "When my dad and I were here, I had the mushroom ravioli," she informed. "It's not too bad," she said with a small shrug. "It's actually pretty good, though not as good as this place over in Port Angeles I went to once," she said with another shrug. "My dad seemed to really like his chicken parmigian, if that helps," she concluded.

"Hmm, that sounds good, I think I'll have that," Carlisle thought aloud as he closed his menu back up.

"Hmm, the fettuccini alfredo doesn't sound too bad," Esme mused. She looked up at her dining companions. "Do you think we should wait for Rosalie to join us before we order?" She asked.

"Might as well," Alice replied. "I can't decide what I want yet," she added with a slight giggle in her tone. "Everything sounds so good." As everyone still pondered what to feast on, their waiter, a young man who looked to be at most a few years older than Emmett took their drink orders. Carlisle simply ordered water for himself and a glass of white wine for Esme. Alice ordered a Shirley Temple and Bella ordered herself a coke after which Emmett seemed to puff out his chest before coolly ordering a Bud Lite, to which Alice rolled her eyes as the waiter departed.

"Emmett just turned 21 last week," she confided to Bella, "he's been taking advantage of it whenever he can."

"Oh yes Alice, please have me come off as some alcoholic," Emmett muttered, rolling his eyes as well.

"I don't think I like the idea of you drinking tonight," Esme said. "Aren't you supposed to help your father with the driving?" Carlisle smiled and shook his head.

"It's alright," he said. "He's earned a little break from that." He then turned his gaze from his wife to his son. "But that doesn't mean I don't expect you to take over tomorrow," he added, to which Emmett quickly nodded.

"Sure thing, dad," he said.

"Hi, hi, sorry for keeping you guys waiting," a rushed voice said as Rosalie quickly approached the table, making Emmett grin from ear to ear.

"Oh nonsense dear, don't worry about it," Esme smiled as Rosalie took the empty seat between Emmett and Alice.

"It seems like the universe wanted to balance things out today," Rosalie chuckled as she opened up her menu. "My first few room visits were pretty good and easy to handle, but then after a while it got a little more hectic," she said, shaking her head a bit.

"Nothing too bad, I hope," Carlisle said.

"Nothing I couldn't survive," Rosalie confidently replied.

"Well, that's good," Emmett stated. Rosalie's smile seemed to grow as she turned to face him.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. Once the waiter returned with the drinks and took everyone's dinner orders and Rosalie's drink order, a diet coke, the table settled into a calm air of conversation. It wasn't too different from what Bella had observed from the Cullens in her time of being in their company but she figured that it was more for Rosalie's, their newcomer, own benefit.

"So, Rosalie, where are you from?" Esme inquired after taking a sip of her wine.

"Rochester, New York," she replied.

"Seriously?" Emmett asked, a brand new excitement in his tone. "We're from New York too,"

"New York _City _though," Alice interjected.

"Oh," Rosalie said, laughing a bit. "Small world, sort of," she said, flashing Emmett a brilliant smile before turning to address the group as a whole. "When I was a senior in high school, the senior trip was to Manhattan. We stayed there a couple of days in November. Some friends and I wanted to camp out to see the tree lighting in Rockefeller center but the crowd was just too massive and the chaperones wouldn't let us," she gave a slight shrug of her shoulder. "So we went shopping instead," she chuckled.

"Oh no, don't tell me you're one of _them_," Emmett joked.

"One of what?" Rosalie asked.

"Shoppers," he said, adding a slight shudder as if a chill were running up his spine.

"Oh just ignore him. We all do," she said. Rosalie laughed and gave the shorter girl a small nod. After their food arrived, there was a brief quiet as everyone took a moment to appreciate their food.

"Bella, Carlisle mentioned to me before that you're from Forks," Esme said, starting up conversation again. "I loved the scenery when we drove by it earlier today, is it always so….green?" She asked with a gentle smile. Bella swallowed down her mouthful of spaghetti marinara before answering.

"Pretty much," she replied. "It's either that or gray," she said with a quiet chuckle.

"I'd imagine it's a lovely place to grow up in," Esme said.

"Oh, I don't know," Bella replied, taking a sip of her drink. "I grew up in Arizona. I just moved to Forks a few years ago." Bella figured she could leave it at that, seeing as there really was no point to address the subject of her parents.

"I see," Esme nodded. The rest of the meal was much the same with everyone eating and the Cullens getting to know their new friends Bella and Rosalie. Once the check arrived, both Carlisle and Esme brushed off Bella and Rosalie's offer to chip in for their orders, stating that they invited them out and did not expect them to pay. Rosalie thanked the couple whereas Bella bit her lip, eyeing them carefully.

"Are you sure?" Bella asked. "I don't want to take advantage of-"

"Nonsense Bella," Esme cut in. "It was our pleasure to dine with you and Rosalie tonight." The warm motherly smile she gave Bella at that silenced all further protests, even if she still felt awkward.

"You know," Carlisle said as he fished out his wallet from his pant's pocket. "I saw an ice cream shop on the way here, anyone up for some desert?" He asked.

"Oh, ice cream does sound like a lovely idea," Esme said as Alice and Emmett voiced their agreement.

"I'd love to," Rosalie said. "But I actually have to get back to my room to finish up some things for tomorrow's orientation booths," she said. She paused a moment before shaking her head. "Which reminds me," she stated, her eyes going to Alice and Bella. "There were some changes made to the itinerary that's in your folders. I was supposed to give out the new copies but…" Her voice trailed off as her gaze secretly slid to Emmett. "Just been so scatterbrained all day," she quickly said as she returned her gaze to the girls. "I'll be sure to slide them under your door before I go to bed." Alice and Bella nodded. The waiter returned and took back the check along with Carlisle's credit card.

"Will you be joining us Bella?" Esme asked. Bella pondered that for a moment. She was sure the Cullens would insist on covering her desert just as they had with her dinner, which was already making her uncomfortable. She could just say she was tired and ride back to the dorms with Rosalie but the expectant and excited look on Alice's face made it impossible to form the words needed to ask Rosalie if she could give her a lift.

"Sure," She finally said.

"Wonderful," Carlisle said, smiling brightly. Rosalie stood up to bid her farewells.

"I'll walk you to your car," Emmett offered. Rosalie looked at him.

"Well, aren't you a gentleman," she teased before looking at his parents. "It was so nice meeting you both, and thank you so much for dinner," she said, going over to them.

"It was our pleasure," Esme smiled as she stood up and hugged Rosalie. Rosalie smiled and returned the gesture before she and Emmett left.

--

"I'm parked right over there," Rosalie said, pointing down one of the rows of cars once she and Emmett walked out of the restaurant. Emmett simply nodded and followed her lead. "Your parents seem really great," Rosalie commented as they walked along the parking lot.

"Glad you think so," he said.

"And Alice, she's such a sweetheart," Rosalie added. Emmett chuckled.

"That's one way of looking at it," he said, causing Rosalie to laugh.

"Here's me," she said once they reached her car. She stood against her car and turned to look at him. "Well, goodnight….I guess," she said. Emmett frowned.

"Hang on a sec," he said. "You said my parents are great and my sister's a sweetheart," he said.

"Yeah," Rosalie said, shrugging. "So?" She asked.

"So….what about me?" He asked, a grin tugging at his lips. Rosalie chuckled.

"You?" She asked. "Hmm, well-" Her sentence was cut off by a loud ringing suddenly going off in the small purse she carried on her shoulder. "Oh, sorry, hang on," she said, reaching into her bag. As she pulled out her cell phone from her bag the object slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. "Shoot," she breathed out.

"I've got it," Emmett said before gallantly kneeling down to retrieve her phone. As he lifted it up from the ground his eyes fell on the lighted display on the front. "It's Royce," he muttered as he stood back up. He winced and shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to….I shouldn't have…" He sighed and simply handed her the phone. Rosalie took it and seemed to look at the display with disdain for a moment before shutting off her phone and putting it back in her purse. "Boyfriend?" Emmett blurted out before thinking. He paused and shook his head. "Not that….it's any of my business…."

"It's not?" Rosalie asked. Her lips formed a small teasing smile that completely dumbfounded him and rendered him unable to respond. "Anyway, to answer your question, no, not anymore at least. We broke up yesterday." Emmett decided it probably wouldn't do him any good to suddenly do some sort of happy dance upon hearing that she was in fact single and simply nodded.

"Ah," he said. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Ah so you automatically assume he broke up with me?" She said the teasing smile back on her lips. Emmett's eyes widened.

"No! I mean….I didn't……I just meant…." His rambling died on his lips as she gave a soft giggle.

"I'm kidding," she declared. "If you must know, I dumped him," she informed. "But, like you said, it's not any of your business, right?" She teased. Emmett bit his lip.

"Uh…I guess….it could be…if you wanted it to," he muttered unsurely, causing Rosalie to giggle once again.

"You're cute," she stated. "Anyway, I should get going," she said as she fished her car keys out of her bag. Emmett stood back quietly as she pulled her keys out and turned to open her door.

"So……is that a yes or a no on……..wanting it to be my business?" Emmett hesitantly asked. Rosalie paused and turned back to him. She bit her lip for a moment, mulling over his question.

"Emmett, you seem really cute and sweet," she said.

"I am really cute and sweet," Emmett quickly replied. "Ask anyone," he said, chuckling.

"But, I _just_ broke up with someone," she continued, giving him an apologetic look. "I just don't want to get into that whole….rebound thing…." Emmett's face fell slightly but he nodded.

"Yeah," he muttered, shrugging as he slightly hung his head in defeat. "And I guess…since you go to school here, and I go to school in Indiana…not such a great idea, huh?"

"Well I wouldn't go as far as to say that," Rosalie replied, causing Emmett's head to quickly snap back up. Rosalie shrugged, her lips curving into yet another smile….not the sweet appreciative smile she had used on his parents, or the teasing smiles she'd given him before. This one was new, different. If Emmett thought he was dumbfounded before, this smile completely stupefied him. "It's like you said, I'm your sister's unofficial roommate. I'm sure we'll run into each other again sometime in the future." It took Emmett a moment to recover from her smile so he could speak.

"Yeah," he said. Her comment had his confidence returning in mere seconds and he grinned at her. "So, what you're saying is….if I gave you a call, you wouldn't give me the Royce treatment and ignore it?" He asked. Rosalie laughed.

"I _might_ be saying that," she replied. "But who said I'm giving you my number?" She teased. Emmett's grin only grew.

"Internal phone memory is a great thing, isn't it?" He asked. "Keeps a record of all the phone calls you make, you know, lists the number, until you decide to delete them….or save them. Every single call, including, oh I don't know, certain phone calls people make asking if other people will in fact be joining them and their family for dinner." Rosalie bit back a grin.

"I see," she said. "Sneaky." Emmett gave a slight tilt of his head.

"I prefer ingenious," he said, causing Rosalie to laugh yet again.

"Well, since you went though all that ingenuity to get my number, I guess the only polite thing to do would be to not ignore your phone call," she supposed.

"True," Emmett replied. "You wouldn't want to be impolite, would you?"

"No, I guess not," Rosalie smirked. She slowly stepped away from her car, closing the space between them. "I really should get going," she said. "But, I'll be looking forward to….needing to be polite," she teased as one of her hands found it's way to his shoulder and she leaned in closer to him, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. Emmett's eyes widened as he became lost in the feel of her lips on his cheek. Much too soon for his liking, her hand left his shoulder and she stepped back towards her car. "Bye," she said before opening her car door. Emmett could do nothing but slowly raise his hand and give a small wave, which seemed to amuse Rosalie as the sounds of her getting into her car were coupled with a round of giggles. She shut her door, giving him one last look from her window before turning on her engine and pulling out of the parking lot.

"Bye," he feebly called out once his voice returned. As the car turned to make it's way back to campus, Emmett wondered if it were possible for someone to be dumbfounded and stupefied at the same time.

--

**2****nd**** AN: Okay, so this chapter was supposed to go all the way 'till the next day but I figure this is a good ending for this chapter and besides….11 pages is long enough for one chapter, no? Haha.**

**Anyway, ch. 5 will cover the rest of the evening and then continue to the next day and time after that. I do intend to uphold the promise of things going much faster after this chapter. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: ACK! Guys I'm so sorry for not updating in such a long time. **

**I got distracted by my attempt at NaNoWriMo this year. Ended up missing the mark completely, *sigh* but ah well, at least I started that story. Figure I have all year to work on it and can work on its intended sequel next November.**

**Anyway, was going to return to this the second the clock struck midnight on December 1****st**** but yeah, school and other distractions had to be dealt with given that the semester is ending. But, I'm managing to juggle things now, so yay! :]**

**Anyway, with that said, and no further adieu, I bring you the latest chapter of College Daze :]**

**Oh, by the way, as a special treat for making you guys wait so long for an update, I'm giving you guys a somewhat long chapter….yay…and a promise that I'll be updating more regularly from now on. I have to, since yeah, my goal is to get to the Edward bits before Christmas. So, yeah, you guys might be seeing daily or at the very least every other day updates for the rest of this month. Aren't you so glad my final exams load is pretty light this semester?**

**------**

By the time Emmett returned from walking Rosalie to her car his family and Bella were already raising from their seats as his father was putting his credit card back in his wallet.

"Have yourself a nice goodbye with Rosalie?" Alice asked once he reached them. Emmett could clearly detect the slight sneer in her tone. Emmett simply grinned.

"Yes, yes I did," he said.

"Shall we go?" Carlisle said, hoping to stop any sort of sibling argument that might come up before it even started.

"Yes," Esme nodded. Carlisle smiled and placed his hand on her back as the two left the table. Alice crossed her arms, a small 'humph' leaving her lips as she followed her parents. Emmett sighed, shaking his head. Bella looked up at Emmett and gave him a tiny smile.

"I'm sure Alice doesn't mean to be so….um….mean," she offered. Emmett smiled at her. Though he knew full and well that Alice's attitude was very much intentional, he appreciated Bella's attempt.

"Thanks," he said. "But it's not a big deal," he shrugged. "Alice has a right to be peeved," he said as the two made their way to join the others. "She's just worried." Bella gave him a sideways glance.

"Worried?" Bella asked. "What, does she think Rosalie will break your heart or something?" Emmett sighed and stepped ahead of Bella to open the door of the restaurant. He stepped out first and held it open for Bella to follow. Bella gave a small appreciative nod and followed his exit.

"Something like that," he muttered dismissively, signaling he had no intention of going further in the conversation. He didn't feel it was his place to go into Alice's motives with Bella. Though Bella seemed like she could be a good friend to Alice and an all around decent girl, the fact still remained that they had all just met her.

"Ah," Bella nodded, taking the hint. She gave him a friendly smile. "By the way," she said, "you should know, you've got a little lipstick on your cheek," she said in a false whisper before she walked ahead of him to catch up with Alice. Emmett's face paled briefly before lighting up with embarrassment. He quickly wiped at his cheek. Though a part of him wanted to proudly wear Rosalie's lip print for as long as possible, he knew it would only fuel Alice's teasing, and possibly encourage his parents to join in good naturedly.

"Thanks," he replied as he picked up the pace to the car as well. Once everyone was back in the car and buckled in, the atmosphere seemed to mimic that of the ride to the restaurant. Whatever ill feelings Alice had towards Emmett were quickly forgotten and she was back to her jovial self by the time they had pulled out of the restaurant's parking lot.

"I wonder what sort of stuff we have to do tomorrow," Alice stated to Bella, seeming to almost bounce in her seat with curious excitement. Bella shrugged.

"I guess normal stuff….like….ID pictures and stuff…" Bella said. She was almost dreading having her picture taken. She was never quite good when it came to ID pictures. When she had first gotten her driver's license in Arizona she had tripped over her own shoelaces right as the picture was taken. Since the photo still showed her face she wasn't allowed to have it retaken. She was at least thankful that a year later she had to get a new license, a Washington state license, when she moved to Forks. Unfortunately, that picture hadn't been much better since her seldom present allergies chose that moment to make themselves known. Apparently, not even being the police chief's daughter could remedy a mid-sneeze license picture since again she was not allowed to have it retaken.

"Oh god, I hate ID pictures," Alice said with a playful groan, as if reading Bella's mind. "It's like some universal law that they can never come out right."

"Oh please," Emmett snickered. "Your high school ID was flawless, don't even pretend."

"It wasn't!" Alice exclaimed. "My hair was such a mess," she explained to Bella.

"Oh yes, it was an awful day when _one _hair was out of place," Emmett chortled. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Well, I guess it _was_ better than your driver's license," Alice teased. Emmett glowered at her for a moment as Bella was brought to small sniggers once again by their back and forth.

"They're hopeless, aren't they?" Esme said, catching Bella's glance in the rearview mirror. Her warm eyes were aglow with gentle mirth at her children. Bella replied with a small breath of a laugh as the car ride continued with much of the same as Carlisle drove to the ice cream shop. Once they arrived the five of them made their way inside. Esme and Carlisle discussed their orders before she excused herself to the ladies room. Bella, now feeling the effect of the two cokes she had with dinner, figured she'd make use of the facilities as well. Carlisle asked for what she wanted, all but confirming Bella's fear that he'd insist on covering her desert like he had dinner. She decided to go for something simple and told him she'd just have a cup of vanilla ice cream. This seemed to catch Alice's attention, which up until then had been eyeing the different toppings from their spot on line.

"Oh come on," Alice said, "you need to at least get a sundae or something," she insisted. Bella opened her mouth to decline when Carlisle cut in.

"Alice, not everyone is as indulgent as you," he gently teased before looking back at Bella. "Are you sure that's all you'd like?" He asked. Bella bit her lip and finally relented. She quickly changed her order to mint chocolate chip before scurrying away to the ladies room. The ladies room was virtually empty with no line awaiting an empty stall. Bella entered the first empty one she encountered. After reliving the pressure on her bladder, she exited the stall to wash her hands where she saw Esme crumbling up a piece of paper towel from the dispenser. Her neutral features lit up with a smile when she saw Bella. Bella returned the gesture and situated herself before one of the sinks. Bella occupied herself with washing her hands, unsure what to say to the woman standing beside her.

"So, dear, how are you enjoying Seattle so far?" Esme asked conversationally as Bella ran her soapy hands under the water. Bella gave a soft shrug.

"It's nice," she replied, "I mean, I've been here before…since Forks isn't too far from here.…" She muttered. She let herself trail off, figuring it didn't need to be said that she drove up to Seattle at least two Saturdays a month through her senior year because she had nothing better to do. Esme nodded.

"Oh yes, right," she said. Bella rinsed off the last bit of soap from her hands and shut off the water. Esme ripped off a piece of paper from the dispenser and handed it to her.

"Thank you," Bella said. "Um," she continued, drying her hands. "I can definitely show Alice around…you know…if you're worried about her getting lost the moment she sets foot off campus or something," she offered. Esme's eyes lit up.

"Oh that's very kind of you, I'm sure Alice would love that," she said. She stepped away from the trashcan beside her to let Bella toss away the paper towel. "I do believe she's quite set on making you her new best friend," Esme chuckled. Bella smiled.

"Well, I…guess that wouldn't be too terrible," Bella replied, unsure how else to respond. Esme's smile seemed to only grow in warmth. If it were possible, it could've given off radiation.

"Thank you, dear," she said. Bella opened her mouth to ask why she was being thanked but Esme continued, her smile faltering a bit. "It's sometimes difficult for Alice to…make close friends," she said, her smile regained its previous strength as she looked at Bella. "I'm glad she has you as a new friend." Bella blinked, completely thrown off by this. She wasn't sure what confused her more, the concept of Alice having any trouble making friends—Bella had only known her for a few hours but she could already sense that many would be hard-pressed to dislike the incorrigible yet endearing perky little pixie—or Esme putting so much belief in Bella being such a great friend when they had just met.

"Uh…" Bella finally squeaked out before clearing her throat, "I…I'm glad I have her as a new friend too…" she finally said. She didn't know if that was the right thing to say but it was the only response she could think of. Esme smiled.

"Well, I guess we should be getting back to the others, hmm?" She said. Bella nodded her agreement and the two left the restroom to join the family who had already made it to the front of the line and were in the process of placing their orders. After a few minutes the group, with treats in hand—Emmett with a large chocolate milkshake, Alice with a double fudge sundae the likes of which Bella was almost afraid what sort of effect would have on her in the hyperactivity department later, Bella with her scoop of mint chocolate chip, and Carlisle carrying a moderately large serving of coffee flavored ice cream which he and Esme would be sharing—made their way to a booth and sat down. Emmett and Carlisle sat on one side while Esme sat on the other side directly across from her husband so as to share the ice cream, Alice sat beside her mother and Bella sat beside Alice on the end of the seat.

"Mmm, this is good," Alice said after her first mouthful of ice cream that resulted in some whip cream staying on the corner of her mouth. Emmett chuckled and handed her a napkin before gesturing to his own mouth to tell her where to wipe. Alice nodded gratefully and wiped her face before looking at Bella. "Do you want some?" She asked, sliding her tiny carafe towards her.

"Sure," Bella shrugged. "Do you want some of mine?" She offered, figuring it was the only right thing to do. Alice nodded. The two shared a laugh as their arms crossed over one another to dip their spoon in each other's ice cream.

"Oh come on Bella, you have to get some of the fudge," Alice giggled when she saw Bella simple scrape some ice cream off the side. Bella laughed and conceded as she re-dipped her spoon to get a bigger helping. "'Atta girl," Alice beamed. Bella couldn't help laugh again as the two "clinked" their spoons together before sticking them in their mouths. "Mmm, minty," Alice said when she swallowed her taste of Bella's ice cream.

"Fudgey," Bella responded with her own assenment of Alice's ice cream, which only sent the two in another joint laugh. Emmett, Carlisle and Esme watched on with smiles on their faces. Esme had no doubt that her assessment of Bella would be true.

Since Bella's order was considerately smaller than the others, she was finished sooner, which only resulted in Alice situating her ice cream between the two of them and insisting Bella share the rest with her, stating how there'd be absolutely no way she'd finish it on her own, to which Bella agreed. Halfway through their shared meal a dollop of chocolate ice cream fell off the bottom of Alice's spoon and landed on her sweater.

"Oh no," Alice gently fretted, frowning slightly. She grabbed a napkin and removed the dollop, but the stain was already there.

"Don't rub it dear, it'll just make the stain set," Esme told her.

"Yeah, I know," Alice said, heaving a sad sigh. "And I really liked this sweater too," she murmured. Esme sent her daughter a warm smile before reaching over and pulling the garment off her shoulders, leaving Alice in the matching cashmere blouse she wore under it.

"I'll take it home with, see what Guillermo can do and send it back to you," Esme offered. Alice nodded before turning back to Bella.

"Guillermo's this really nice man; he owns the dry cleaners my parents always use. He's a whiz in stain removal," Alice explained. Bella simply nodded. She figured she'd rather not stick her foot in her mouth by pointing out that Seattle had a bevy of adequate dry cleaning services. She figured whomever the Cullens deemed worthy of their apparel praises was good enough for them. "I remember this one time when I was almost twelve," Alice went on to say, only to pause and cast a look over to her father and brother. She gave a sheepish smile. "You might want to cover your ears, it's the wedding story," she warned. Emmett made a face and quickly covered his ears while Carlisle simply chuckled and shook his head.

"Alice, you do realize I am a doctor, things like that don't phase me," he pointed out. Alice grinned.

"Yeah, okay, says the guy who nearly had a myocardial infraction the first time he had to buy pads for a certain daughter of his," Alice teased. Esme gave a light snort before her hand quickly covered her mouth to muffle her giggles. Carlisle gave his wife a playful glare before looking back at Alice.

"Well, that's different. You were eleven, it was….unsettling," Carlisle muttered, looking down at his ice cream. Alice shook her head and looked back at Bella.

"Mom was in bed with the flu so dad had to get supplies when…you know…it first happened…..Emmett found him an hour later huddled in the master bathroom, rocking back and forth muttering something about his baby growing up, over and over again." This sent Esme into a heavier fit of giggles while Carlisle's face reddened. Bella bit her lip to keep from laughing at the mental image Alice had created while being incredibly thankful that by the time she was back under her father's roof; "auntie flo" was tamed.

"Is it over yet?" Emmett asked, pulling his hands from his ears.

"I think Emmett and I should take a walk, seeing as this is heading into girl talk," Carlisle said, his face still beet red with embarrassment. Alice and Esme simply giggled and their expense as Carlisle and Emmett slid out of the booth, Emmett quickly grabbing his milkshake so as not to leave it to melt, and stepped outside.

"Anway," Alice said, looking back at Bella. "So, like my second month with it, you know, you're still….getting the hang of things, right?" Alice said. Bella gave a small nod. She didn't even want to remember the few times she had had "accidents" in school the first few months with the curse of Eve. "Well, the week of unpleasantness just so happened to coincide with the wedding of one of my dad's colleagues. Anyway, I had the bright idea to wear this powder blue dress….and well, you get where I'm going, don't you?" She asked. Bella made a small winced and nodded.

"Wow, that must've been horrible," Bella said.

"It was!" Alice replied.

"Oh, Alice was so beside herself," Esme said. "Luckily, Maggie, Siobhan's sister and maid of honor, came to the rescue."

"If you call wearing a huge emerald green satin shawl around my waist for the rest of the evening as being rescued," Alice chortled. She looked back at Bella. "It wasn't exactly the most discrete, you know?" Bella nodded.

"Well, I guess it's better than having everyone see a big red splotch on your dress," Bella offered. Alice nodded.

"True," she said, with a small giggle. "That would've been embarrassing. At least with the shawl there was some, I don't know, ambiguity," she said. She quickly waved her hands in front of herself as if to get herself back on track. "Anyway, mom took the dress to Guillermo and the dress came back looking as good as new," she said. Bella nodded, trying to follow. In the long story about the wedding she had almost forgotten what it was that started the story in the first place. The three ladies finished off the remainder of their treats before Esme pointed out it was getting late and they should all head back to the dorm so the family could get back on the road.

After the three women got rid of the trash they found Emmett and Carlisle standing by the rental car in midst of the conversation. From what Bella caught as the three of them approached, it sounded like they were making their travel plans to Indiana. Apparently Carlisle and Esme were planning to drop Emmett at his school on their way back to New York.

"Oh honey, I don't like the idea of leaving you there. The dorms don't open for another week," Esme said, joining in the conversation. Emmett smiled.

"Don't worry mom, one of the guys from the team has a place off campus and stayed over the summer to work. He's going to let me crash on his couch," Emmett replied.

"I know," Esme said, but still pouted. "But I'm sure that can't be comfortable. Wouldn't you rather come home, spend a few days in your room, maybe see some of your old friends a few more times and then fly to Indiana?" She asked. Emmett blinked, opening his mouth to argue his mother's plea, but no words came out. He cast a look over to Carlisle after a moment.

"Dad, help me out here," he requested. Carlisle chuckled and shook his head.

"Oh no son, this is between you and your mother," Carlisle replied. Emmett shot his father a steely glare.

"Thanks," he hissed. He turned to look back at his mother. Bella and Alice simply stood by and watched the interaction. Bella almost burst out laughing when she saw Esme give her son a look a little similar to the one Alice had given him earlier when she wanted him to move the TV. "Oh, come on," Emmett groaned. He sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Alright," he finally relented, "I guess my bed back home would be better than a ratty couch," he sighed. Esme's face broke out into a wide smile before wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and giving him a hug. Emmett gave a rueful chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her and ducked his head down so his chin rested on her shoulder. Bella bit the inside of her cheek to keep from snorting. _So that's where Alice learned whatever look she used before_, she thought to herself.

"Weren't you the one who said using 'the look' wasn't very nice?" Alice snickered as her mother and brother released each other. Esme gave Alice an innocent look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said. Alice laughed.

"Alright, shall we get going?" Carlisle suggested. The other all nodded and boarded the vehicle.

The ride back to campus started off much like the other car rides of the evening but after a point an eerie somber silence permeated the atmosphere of the SUV. Bella cast a look over to Alice. Her expression was blank as her eyes fixated on a spot on the back of Esme's seat. Her mouth was slightly parted as she continued in her tiny trance, air moving through her slack lips. Bella wanted to ask if she was alright but something stopped her. She wasn't sure what, but a part of her felt that asking such a question or speaking at all at this point, wasn't the thing to do. Emmett, who at this point had taken to looking out his window, finally cast a glance at his little sister. A sad smile graced his features before he put an arm around her shoulders, his fingers accidentally brushing Bella's shoulder as he embraced Alice. Alice blinked and looked up at her brother. She gave him a watery smile and let him draw her as close to him as her seat belt would allow. She laid her head on his chest as Emmett ducked his head down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Bella caught movement from the front of the car in the corner of her eye. She tore her eyes away from Alice and Emmett to see Esme turned in her seat, looking back at them. She reached one arm to the back of the car and laid her delicate hand on Alice's knee. Alice's eyes met her mothers and the two shared a deep look, twin loving smiles on their faces.

Bella suddenly felt awkward for observing this tender moment within the family, as if she were some voyeur peaking getting strange pleasure from their secret observations. She quietly cleared her throat and turned to look at the front of the car. Carlisle, who up until now seemed to be completely separated from this moment, caught Bella's gaze in the rearview mirror. His face was expressionless but his eyes in the reflective glass spoke volumes. Something about the look seemed…almost warm, welcoming, as if he was telling her she wasn't at all wrong or damaged for watching them. The look was brief. Carlisle's eyes returned to the road. After a moment one of his hands left the steering wheel and came to a rest on Esme's lap.

As much as Carlisle's look had told Bella she was welcomed in this moment, his action only made her feel even more separated. Not so much because she wasn't part of this train of human contact, but because she never really had this sort of contact within her own family. Not to say her life was bereft of hugs and kisses from her family. Her mother was affectionate in her own right. But they were somewhat empty. Not empty of emotion, but somehow empty. It definitely felt empty and different from what she was observing now.

Renee was always over the top. She would hug Bella over little things, like finishing up a project from her latest craft obsession. But those moments were quick and filled with Renee's excited chattering in Bella's ear. Bella would give a brief nervous chuckle and awkwardly returned the hug before Renee released her. Bella figured she was like her father, Charlie, in that excessive displays of emotion threw her off balance.

As for Charlie, when Bella was a small child in Forks, before Renee's escape to sunny Arizona, he would awkwardly indulge Bella in whatever moments of childish affection she'd display. He'd let her crawl into his lap and wrap her tiny arms around him like she thought little girls were supposed to do with their daddies. He would allow her to place giant wet kisses on his cheek when he tucked her into bed. But he always seemed caught off guard, no matter how many times she did it. It never offended Bella, she knew her father loved her; he just wasn't one to show it. By the time Bella had returned to him as a teenager, she had long since grown out of the affectionate phase, which Bella figured made their cohabitation a lot easier on the both of them. He was spared the brief moments of not knowing how to reciprocate such affection, and she was spared his uncomfortable chuckles and lame attempts. Again, she knew he cared for her, and that was enough.

He had tried to hug her when he picked her up from the airport in Port Angeles when she first arrived from Phoenix. It, like most other attempts done by him, was shy and uncomfortable. He was genuinely happy to see her and know he would be seeing her for more than the two weeks she'd give him in the summer, so he tried to express this happiness. It was a quick one armed hug followed by a mumbled apology for accidentally knocking her purse off her shoulder in his attempt at paternal affection. Somehow living under the same roof eased whatever tension the two felt for one another. When Charlie had found out Bella had not only applied to but gotten into some schools in Seattle, he was so overjoyed that he affectionately placed his hands on her shoulders and told her how proud he was of her. Bella figured a part of him feared she'd run far away, just a year and a half after returning to him, and was therefore pleasantly surprised to see that would not be the case. Having his daughter spend four more years in the same state as him seemed to make his week.

Charlie's attempts at affection came to a head the night before, after the two finished loading up Bella's things into the truck. He wouldn't be around to say his goodbyes in the morning, needing to report early to the station, so he had his moment of father sending only child to college as the sun set behind them. He mumbled his way through the expected speech for the situation—don't drink, don't do drugs, generally don't do anything that you wouldn't be able to tell your dear old dad about…if we were in fact the type to share, do well in school, don't have sex, make friends….okay at least try to make one friend, I'll miss you, don't have sex, visit when you can, don't have sex, keep in touch, don't have sex, have fun…not too much fun,—before hugging her, this time with both arms. Bella was too touched by his attempt to quip that the sex thing was sort of a lost cause. Well, she told herself, Chief Swan didn't need to know that her virginity was lost in the half hearted awkward fumblings in the back of Mike Newton's car. She didn't even want to know how many ways Charlie could think of to make Mike's life miserable.

"Here we are," Carlisle's announcement tore Bella from her reverie as he pulled into the parking lot outside of her and Alice's dormitory building.

"Yeah, here we are," Alice muttered in a sigh. Esme gave Alice's knee a gentle squeeze before turning forward and they all got out of the car. The group congregated near the front of the car, looking at one another in silence before Bella spoke up.

"I guess I'll….um…leave you guys to….say goodbye," she mumbled nervously, figuring the family would want their privacy. She placed a hand on Alice's arm. "I'll see you upstairs," she said. Alice nodded, shooting Bella a grateful smile. Bella looked at Alice's parents and gave a tentative smile. "Thank you both for dinner and the ice cream," she said. Esme smiled.

"Oh, it was our pleasure to have your company, sweetheart," she said. She swiftly closed the space between herself and Bella, and pulled her into a hug. Bella balked for a moment before quickly returning the gesture. Esme let her go and gave her one last warm smile before stepping back to stand by her daughter.

"She's right, it was our pleasure," Carlisle affirmed, giving Bella a smile that matched his wife's. Bella opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Emmett grabbing her in a bear hug.

"Oh my god," Bella muttered in her surprise as the football player's massive arms enclosed around her, lifting her off the ground. Emmett chuckled in her ear.

"It was great meeting ya, Belly," he said, setting her down yet keeping his arms still around her.

"Belly?" Bella asked, not sure how she felt about this new nickname. Emmett simply chuckled again, giving her a slight squeeze.

"Take care of her, will you?" He muttered to her, loud enough for only her to hear. His tone was now more serious than his previous jovial mood. His arms slipped away from her. Bella blinked and stepped back, giving him a quizzical look. His expression was serious, and even a little pleading. Bella opened her mouth to reply but found herself without words. She could see he was expressing the expected concern for the baby sister that would be far from home, and yet she didn't know how to reply. She simply nodded, which caused Emmett to smile.

With one last wave to the Cullens, Bella retreated to the room she'd be sharing with the youngest Cullen for the next nine months of her life. Once she entered the darkened room, she heard the soft crinkle of paper under her foot. She hit the light switch by the door and looked down to see she had stepped on the new itineraries Rosalie must've slid under the door as promised. She moved her foot off the papers and picked them up, placing one copy on Alice's desk and taking hers over to the other end of the room to place on her desk. When she reached her desk her eyes idly scanned over to the window. She saw that the window overlooked the parking lot and she could see the Cullens saying their goodbyes. Esme had just finished hugging Alice and was now stepping away, wiping at her eyes. She was crying. Carlisle wrapped his arms around his wife and let her lean against him as Emmett enveloped Alice in his arms. He picked his tiny sister up much like he had done with Bella. Her lithe form hung from his burly arms as he held her close, her feet dangling by his knees and her face buried in his shoulder. Bella could see Emmett's lips moving from the window as he spoke to his sister. Whatever it was that he said effected Alice, since her grip on him tightened. He placed a kiss on the side of her head. Bella stepped away from the window, feeling even more like a voyeur than she had in the car. She decided to give them their moment in honest privacy and turned away from the window.

Bella idly walked around the room, taking it in. She wandered over to Alice's side of the room, eyeing the many pictures on her dresser and desk. Her eyes fell on a picture of Alice sitting by a fountain with a guy who looked to be about their age. Her eyes were bright with happiness and the smile she wore on her face reached from one ear to the other. Her body leaned into the guy's frame, who held her close to him with a small close lipped smile on his face. Alice's happiness in the picture wasn't what made her stare at the image, no, it was the guy. Something about him made her heart stop and her breath catch in her throat. Well, she knew exactly what it was that made her stop. The guy was _gorgeous_.

His features seemed to all come together to create a visage that would make any Renaissance artist weep; he made David or any other rendering of the "perfect man" pale in comparison. His piercing green eyes gave her a pleasant chill and his bronze hair, even in its complete disarray, seemed to only add onto his perfection. Bella swallowed thickly and tore her eyes away from the picture to see another one. This time she landed on a picture of Alice and another guy, also about their age, with blonde hair. The two stood by steel black stems. It took Bella a moment to realize it was the base of the Eiffel Tower. The guy had one arm around her, a serene look on his face. Alice's expression was quite different from the previous picture. Instead of wearing a wide happy grin, her lips were pressed together in a small smile that would give the Mona Lisa a run for her money. From the European setting, Bella figured this must've been taken while Alice was visiting her brother in England. Paris was jus a train ride away from London.

_So, that must be Edward, _her mind figured about the blonde. It would make sense, given Carlisle's light colored locks, that one of their children be a blonde. Edward was in his own right, quite attractive, but nothing like the green eyed beauty she had seen before. Bella quickly cut off her thoughts about the bronze haired boy. _That's probably her boyfriend. Yeah, no need to lust after your roommate's sweetie, that would just be too awkward. _It made sense for Alice's mellow expression to go to her blonde brother and her face consuming smile and bright eyes to be saved for whatever boy had captured her heart. Although, who's heart couldn't fall victim to that gorgeous green eyed man?

Bella shook her head and walked back to her desk, casting a glance to the window. She saw the car pulling away, leaving Alice to wistfully stare at it from the curb. Bella couldn't help laugh as she saw Emmett stick his head out the window and shout one more goodbye to his sister. Bella watched Alice laugh and wipe her cheeks with one hand while the other moved over her head in a large wave goodbye to her family. After the car had pulled away from the parking load and disappeared down the road, Alice stayed on the curb, her shoulders hunched over and shaking with small sobs. Bella frowned as she felt her heart clench at the sight. She'd only known this girl for a few hours but the sight of Alice's unhappiness deeply bothered her. Bella bit her lip and made a move to go outside and comfort her new friend but was stopped by Alice taking a deep breath and one last swipe to her cheeks before turning and making her way inside the building. Bella decided to make herself look busy so Alice wouldn't know she had been watching from the window when she came in. Bella picked up her copy of _Wuthering Heights _and flopped on her bed, quickly opening it up to where she had left off in her earlier waiting. It really wouldn't matter where she opened the book to though, since she was only pretend to read as her mind was filled with concern for her friend, thoughts of the green eyed boy, and self admonishment for thinking of her roommate's boyfriend.

AN: Wanted to make this chapter even longer, but need to go get ready for class (yup, I've got a Sunday morning class), and wanted to get this up now. Next chapter will be up tomorrow evening, if not later today.

Also, I'm pretty sure the treatment of the chocolate stain was a faux pas and you're probably actually supposed to run stains under water quickly before they set………but……..whatever, I'm not all that knowledgeable on stain removal, haha.


	6. Chapter 6

Bella had just managed to get herself to stop thinking about the green eyed Adonis and focus on the familiar words in her favorite book when she heard the door open. She peaked over the top of her book to see Alice walk in. The evidence of the crying fit Bella had seen from the window was long gone, except for slight mars in Alice's makeup.

"Hey," Bella greeted. Alice sent her a smile as she shut the door behind her. "Everything okay?" Bella asked, shutting her book and setting it beside her on the bed. Alice nodded and walked over to Bella's bed.

"May I?" She asked. Bella nodded and sat up, allowing Alice to sit beside her. Alice sat down and leaned her back against the wall. She let her purse rest on the floor by Bella's bed. Bella moved her legs up onto the bed, sitting in a cross-legged position that faced her friend. The two were quiet for a moment. Bella bit her lip.

"I…um…I saw your parents leaving from the window," she admitted, causing Alice to turn her head to regard her carefully. "….I mean, I didn't mean to….like, spy on you or anything," Bella quickly added. "I was just standing at my desk and saw you…um…" Bella sighed and shook her head. "Are you okay?" She asked. Alice stared at her for a moment before a small smile spread across her lips.

"Yeah," she said. She shrugged against Bella's wall. "It's just…weird," she said. "I've never been totally away from my family," she admitted sheepishly. "We're really close. I mean sure, there's school and shopping and stuff like that…but…" She snorted a bit to herself. "Before now, the ten hours flying to England this past June—you know, to visit my brother Edward—was the longest I'd ever been without my parents or brothers. Pretty pathetic, right?" She asked. Bella shook her head.

"No, I…I think it's nice," Bella said, giving her a half smile. Alice searched her eyes, trying to see if Bella was being sincere. She grinned when she saw that she was. Bella gave a small shrug. "Some families can't even stand each other, so...it's nice to see one that could spend hours trapped in a car together without killing each other," she joked, thinking to how much driving the Cullens must have had to do travel from New York. Alice giggled.

"Yeah, I guess that's true," she said. Before either girl could say another word, music began to blare from Alice's purse, causing both girls to jump slightly. Bella gave a small laugh as Alice giggled. "Sorry," she said. She leaned forward to get her purse. She unzipped it and pulled out her cell phone. She gazed at the display screen as she leaned back and a large smile broke out on her face. "It's Edward!" She squealed. Bella's eyebrows rose, taken aback by the girl's reaction. Alice gave another giggle as she flipped the phone open. Instead of pressing it to her ear she pressed a button. She still had the phone in front of herself but brought the bottom of it closer to her mouth. "Now what could you possibly be doing up this late, Edward?" Alice greeted. Bella instinctively looked at her watch, ready to ask how 8pm could be seen as late before remembering that it must've been later in England. A smooth chuckle came from the phone, filling the space between Alice and Bella.

"It's not so late," a voice said. The voice was deep and smooth, with an almost velvet like quality and a tiny hint of an accent. Bella absentmindedly tilted her head to the side as she tried to place the voice to the face. For some reason she couldn't picture that voice coming out of the blonde in the picture. "Besides, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't see how baby sister was settling into her new home?" Edward said, bringing Bella out of her thoughts. Alice rolled her eyes.

"It must be….what…two in the morning?" Alice argued.

"Three, actually," Edward corrected. Alice chortled.

"You and your insomniac ways, darling brother," she sighed.

"Alright, alright," Edward groaned. "Enough about me and my sleeping habits, sister. Tell me _all _about your day," he chuckled. "I'm especially curious to hear about the crazy person you'll be forced to live with," he chuckled. "Let me guess, it's some new age hippie chick that's covered the room with posters of unicorns and already has the room smelling of horrid incense to hide the pot spell," he chuckled. "Or is it some brainless little blonde twit who's hoping to pledge the sluttiest sorority on campus? Or wait, no, maybe it's a mosey little book nerd who has a poster of the periodic table over her bed," he added, chuckling some more. Alice bit her lip to stifle a giggle.

"Edward," she gently spoke, "you're on speaker." There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment.

"I see," he finally said in an even tone. "And…you're not alone, are you?"

"Mmm, nope," Alice replied, letting her lips pop on the 'p' sound. Edward heaved a sigh.

"Of course," he muttered. "Well….roommate," Edward spoke, obviously trying to address Bella, "if you are in fact some blonde little twit hoping to pledge the sluttiest sorority on campus, please accept my apologies, I'm sure you have other redeemable qualities."

"Edward!" Alice said, letting a loud laugh spring from her lips. "You're insulting my new friend!"

"Actually, I don't think I am," Edward countered. "If this poor soul that has been forced to live with you was in fact the aforementioned type, you would've jumped on the defensive right away," he said. Bella shook her head.

"Well isn't someone an evil genius," she said, rolling her eyes. Alice chuckled, shaking her head.

"Ah, the roommate speaks," Edward said, obviously having had heard her. Bella narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, the roommate set her bong down long enough to speak," she said in an icy tone. Edward laughed.

"Well, that's lovely to hear," he replied, the patronizing edge was evident in his tone. Bella narrowed her eyes at the little phone in Alice's hand, deciding she now did not like the blonde with the velvet voice.

"Edward, be nice," Alice warned. She sighed and leaned towards Bella. "Don't mind Edward. He's been in England for so long, he's actually starting to become a limey," she said, her voice adopting a teasing edge for Edward's sake. "It started off with talking like 'em, now he's got the personality down too."

"I heard that," Edward said in a warning tone.

"Oh, did you?" Alice innocently asked, her perfectly waxed eyebrow reflexively arching playfully.

"Well, just for that, I'm not going to speak to you anymore," Edward teased. "So, roommate who apparently has no name, how are you taking cohabitation with my little sister?" He asked.

"I'm taking it quite nicely, thank you," Bella responded. "And I do have a name."

"Oh, well that's a relief," Edward replied sarcastically. "I'd hate to think you had lived what…eighteen years?…as a being with no name." Bella pursed her lips. She looked up at Alice. Alice gave her a quick worried look and mouthed 'are you okay?' Bella shrugged and waved a dismissive hand as an idea came to him.

"Well, just for that," she said, mimicking his previous tone, "I'm not going to tell you my name. I don't think you've earned the right to know it," she said, finishing in a haughty tone. Edward laughed.

"Alright, then I shall just call you Roommate," he said, his tone implicating he had no intention of playing into Bella's hand. "Well, that is until Alice tells me," he said. Alice giggled.

"Oh no, brother dear," Alice finally spoke up, "I'm going to have to agree with B…" She stopped, quickly catching herself. "I mean my _new friend_, here; I don't believe you've earned her name since you haven't been very nice."

"Hmm," Edward spoke, considering his sister's words. "Well, I now know the name starts with a B," he chuckled. "So, Roommate, I guess I will now call you Bee," he said. Bella rolled her eyes and moved off the bed.

"You do that," she said, disinterested, before looking over at Alice. "I'm going to go shower," she told her.

"Oh," Alice spoke, her smile leaving her face, "I'm sorry, I can call him back later if-"

"Oh, I'm so glad to hear I'm so easily disposed of," Edward sighed. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Quiet you," she said lowly into the phone before looking back at Bella. Bella shook her head.

"No, its okay, I've been meaning to make use of the showering facilities," she said, giving Alice a smile. "Talk to your brother, we have loads of time to chat, roomie," she said. Alice grinned.

"Okay," she replied. Bella stepped away from the bed to grab her bag of toiletries and the bathrobe she had left by her dresser.

"I do hope I haven't chased you off," she heard Edward's voice ring out from the phone as she gathered her things. Bella didn't exactly detect a high amount of sincerity in his tone.

"Edward," Alice sighed. Once Bella grabbed one of her towels from the duffel bag she had yet to shove under her bed, she gathered up all her things and turned back to face Alice. Alice caught her eye and mouthed an apology which Bella replied with a smile and shake of her head. Bella swiftly left the room leaving the Cullen siblings to chat. She suddenly wondered if Esme's words in the ladies room earlier had any bearing here. If Edward acted his cordially to all of Alice's friends, there was no wonder why Alice might've had trouble making loads of friends.

Bella made her way to the communal bathroom and was relieved to find that she and Alice were not living in one of the dorms that had co-ed showering facilities. Given all her coordination problems, she had already had fears of the possibility of stepping out of a shower, slipping, and somehow ending up flashing a horde of males. She would probably end of slipping and having towel mishaps anyway, but at least she now knew it would only be around people who were the same sex as she was.

The bathroom was a large room that had five rows that vertically went from a few feet from the door all the way to the back of the room. Two rows were toilet stalls, two were slightly wider that, as Bella observed girls wrapped in towels or bathrobes come out of, were the shower stalls, and one row of sinks before a wide mirror that took up most of the right wall. Bella walked between the twin shower rows in search of an empty stall. As she walked down the aisle she paused at the sight of a wide gap between two shower stalls. Instead of being another stall between the two, as there was in the row that mirrored it, there was a small bathtub nestled there between the two stalls. The tub looked like any tub one would find in a bathroom minus the presence of a shower head and most importantly, a curtain, meaning the tub was bereft of privacy. Bella made a face at the thought of who in their right mind would want to use that for its lack of a curtain and possible unsanitary condition.

"I know, so gross, right?" Bella heard a voice say. Bella turned to see Rosalie come out of the shower stalls. She wore a large lilac colored bathrobe while ruffling a white towel through her wet hair with one hand while the other had a bag hanging from her forearm. Bella nodded with a small chuckle.

"Yeah," she said. "Who would actually bathe in that?" She asked. Rosalie laughed.

"Eh, once in a blue moon some girl who thinks she's too good to shave her legs standing up will hop in," she commented. Bella made a face and looked back at the tub. Rosalie caught the meaning of the look and laughed. "The less exhibitionist ones wear a bathing suit or something," she clarified. Bella nodded.

"Still doesn't look all that sanitary," she commented. Rosalie gave a hum of agreement.

"You'd be right about that one," she said with a small shudder. "The custodial staff only cleans it like once a month."

"Ew," Bella muttered. Rosalie chuckled again.

"Anyway, so how are you and Alice settling in on your first night?" Rosalie asked. Bella turned back to look at her. She opened her mouth to reply but stopped to move out of the way as a short red head squeezed past them after exiting a stall further down the row.

"We're okay," Bella finally replied. "Thanks for the itineraries by the way," she added. Rosalie nodded. "Anyway, Alice's on the phone with her brother—not the one you hit it off with," she said with a small smirk, causing Rosalie's eyes to almost twinkle at the mention of Emmett before she looked away embarrassed, "so I figured I'd hit the showers and give them some time to talk." Rosalie nodded.

"Sounds good," she said. She turned her head to see a few more girls making their way down the aisle in search of an empty shower stall. One girl made a move to get into the one Rosalie had just vacated but Rosalie moved to block the door. "Sorry, this one's taken," she said. The girl rolled her eyes, muttering a whatever, before shoving through the small space between Bella and Rosalie. Bella looked at Rosalie.

"That wasn't very nice," she said, wagging a finger at her RA. Rosalie laughed.

"Well, I figured since I've held you up, you should get first dibs on this one," she said. "Besides," she added in a low tone, her eyes going over to the girl who finally found an empty stall and disappeared inside it. "That's Zoë, she's a bit of a bitch," she said. Bella bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Aren't RA's supposed to be super sweet to all their…I don't know, charges?" She asked. Rosalie giggled.

"True," she said, "but Zoë lives on the other side of the floor, so she's not one of mine, so I can be as mean as I like. The bathroom down there is smaller than this one so, yeah, it fills up pretty quickly and sometimes we get the overflow if there's any who think waiting is beneath them," she chuckled. Bella shook her head and laughed. Rosalie smiled. "Well, I'm going to head off," she announced. Bella nodded.

"Thanks for reserving the shower," she said as Rosalie stepped away to move down the row on her way to the exit. Rosalie looked back at her and laughed.

"Hey, RA's are nothing if not helpful," she said with a friendly wink as she disappeared. Bella chuckled and entered the shower stall, pulling the door shut and sliding the deadbolt home behind her. The stall looked like a larger public toilet stall from the outside but from the inside it was noticeably different. Against both side walls protruded a small ledge that, height wise, reached Bella's knee. Bella understood that they were probably there so people would have a place to set their things down as they showered and/or sit down for whatever reason they would need to sit right outside the shower. The parallel ledges spanned the walls until they reached the back wall, where the shower was. Bella was almost expecting just a showerhead affixed overhead on the wall and a drain on the floor but it was actually a shower curtain having, must actually step into it, shower. Again, Bella rationalized it made sense, since most likely no one wanted to have water flowing all over the place.

Bella set her toiletry bag and towel on one of the ledge/benches before hanging her bathrobe on the small metal hook above it. She stripped off her clothes and set them neatly on the other bench before nudging her bag closer to the shower and leaving zipped open so she could easily reach in for her items as she needed them. Once she was completely shower ready she pulled the curtain back and stepped in the shower. The walls still held droplets of water from Rosalie's time in it but other than that the shower looked completely clean. The showerhead rested at the top of the space with twin knobs chest level to Bella's body. With a quick thank you that these showers offered more modesty than the showers at other school's she had looked at, Bella turned the knobs and let the water rain down on her, twisting the fixtures until she found a temperature that she liked. She sighed and tilted her head back as she shut her eyes, letting the water hit her face before gliding down her body.

After she indulged herself in the soothing feel of the warm water she edged the curtain aside to pull out her cleansing products one by one. As she pulled out her strawberry and conditioner, she set them on the small ridge in the shower. She then snaked her wrist through the loop of her soap puff while the other pulled out her freesia scented body wash. After that she pushed the curtain back in place and opened up her body wash before squeezing a dollop onto the puff. She let the body wash drop beside her feet, quite proud of herself for not having the action result in the bottle falling on her foot like other times she'd showered. She ran the puff over herself until she was adequately covered in soap. She hung the puff on one of the shower knobs before reaching for her shampoo. After working her hair into a nice lather she leaned back in the stream of water to rinse off the shampoo and soap. She then worked the conditioner through her hair and rinsed that out as well. She let herself enjoy the soothing effects of the shower for a few more minutes before deciding she'd showered enough.

Bella rinsed the soap off the puff before shutting off the water and putting her things back in her bag. She supported herself on the wall of the stall as she leaned out of the shower to grab her towel. She nearly rejoiced when she grabbed the towel and stood back up without falling over, although she did feel awkward leaning over to the bench buck naked as she was.

She used the towel to pat herself dry before doubling over so her hair hung over her head, the tips almost touching the shower floor. She brought the towel to the nape of her neck and wrapped it around her hair into a tight turban and stood up. She tucked the end of the towel into the end against the nape of her neck to keep the covering secure before drawing back the curtain and stepping out. She pulled her bathrobe and tied the belt tightly, making sure all of her body was covered since she hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes into the bathroom with her. She figured she and Alice were now about to get a lot closer as friends since it'd be awkward to scurry to her room, grab clothes, and run back to the bathroom to change.

Bella tucked her discarded panties and bra into the pockets of her bathrobe and stuffed her socks into her sneakers. She draped her jeans and t-shirt over her arm and picked her sneakers up by inserting her index and middle fingers into the foot holes. She turned back to her toiletry and pulled out the cheap pair of plastic flip flops she stored in the bag. She let the shoes drop to the floor and slid her feet in. She then zipped up her toiletry bag with one hand by holding it in place on the bench with her knee. Once the bag was zipped she slid her wrist through the handles and picked it up, letting the bag slide to rest in the crook of her elbow. She slid the deadbolt out of the door and stepped out of stall, sidestepping past a blonde who seemed to be quite glad a shower just freed up.

Bella held the top opening of her robe shut with her free hand as she made her way back to her room. Her feet caused tiny clapping sounds as she flipped and flopped her way from the bathroom. She reached the door to her and Alice's room when Alice's voice made her stop.

"She's really nice," she heard Alice say.

"Alice..." She heard Edward's telephonic distorted voice reply. There was an almost worried tone to his voice.

"No Edward," Alice adamantly argued. "She's really nice. She's not like…" Bella heard Alice trail off. "She's different," she finally said. There was a moment of pause before Bella heard Edward speak.

"Well, Alice, for your sake, I do hope you're right," he said. His tone was cautiously optimistic. "You know I'm just worried."

"I know," Alice replied.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Edward continued.

"I know," Alice repeated.

"Last spring….how…," Edward's voice trailed off with a sigh. "Seeing you like that, it broke my heart," he continued, his voice so soft Bella had to strain to hear his voice through the door. Bella felt bad for eavesdropping on Alice's phone conversation with her brother, but she couldn't help herself. She did although wonder why Alice kept the conversation on speakerphone.

"Edward," Alice sighed. "I'm okay now," she told him, her tone firm. "Besides, Bella got the Emmett approval so, I think she's a good egg," Alice stated, a slight giggle in her tone. Bella's eyebrows rose at hearing that they were talking about her. She wondered why Edward was so against her. She was almost enraged that he was judging whether or not she was good enough to be his sister's friend without knowing her. Before, in their little banter, she figured he was just a generally cocky person. Now she was beginning to wonder if he was just a plain old jerk.

"Ah, so her name is Bella, then?" Edward chuckled. "I knew you'd tell me eventually." Alice groaned.

"Ugh," she said. "Fine, but don't let her know I let it slip."

"I really don't see why I would be talking to her anytime soon," Bella heard Edward replay. She rolled her eyes. She looked down the hall to see a few guys walk past her on their way to a room further down the hall. They eyed her bathrobe clad form appreciatively as one muttered to the other how much they loved co-ed floors. Bella shuddered to herself and decided it was time to go into her room. She "accidentally" bumped her foot into the door to signal to Alice she was entering.

"Oh, she's coming back," she heard Alice quickly mutter to the phone as Bella turned the knob and opened the door. "Hey hun," Alice greeted as Bella stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. She saw that Alice had moved off her bed and was now sitting by the open door of the closet organizing her shoes with her cell phone perched on the floor beside her. Bella returned the smile and made her way to her dresser to set her bag down. "How was the shower?" Bella chuckled.

"Um…it was okay," Bella replied, unsure how else to respond, which caused Alice to chuckle before leaning into the closet and moving a pair of her shoes.

"Well, sister dear, I guess I'll head off to bed and leave you to converse with _Bella_," Edward stated, a slight chuckle in his tone. Alice groaned and sat back, picking the phone off the floor.

"Edward, you rat," she hissed. Bella simply shrugged and went about getting her pajamas out of her dresser. Alice looked over at her roommate. "I'm sorry, it slipped out," she apologized to Bella. Bella smiled and shook her head.

"It's okay," she said. Alice smiled and looked back at the phone. She regarded the phone for a moment before biting her lip.

"Edward?" She said, a slight twinge of timidness in her tone.

"Yes?" Edward replied.

"Um….would you….uh….." Bella cast a curious look at Alice, wondering what could cause the girl to stammer nervously. Alice took a deep breath. "Uh…..could you tell Jasper I….uh….said hello?" She said.

"Sure," Edward casually replied, not picking up on his sister's nervousness. Bella eyed her carefully, picking up on the blush that tinted Alice's cheeks the second she said the name 'Jasper'. Bella concluded it must've been the name of the gorgeous green eyed man in the picture. She turned back to her dresser, scrunching her nose up privately. Jasper didn't seem like a fitting name for the bronze haired beauty. She then winced to herself for continuously thinking of the boy who Alice obviously had feelings for in such ways.

"Thanks," Alice said, tearing Bella from her internal self flogging. She cleared her throat to try and adopt her brother's casual tone. "How is he doing by the way?"

"He's alright," Edward replied. "He's already working on his end of term project," Edward continued. "He and Maria seem to burn the midnight oil these days." Bella leaned against her desk as she pulled on her pajama pants on under her bathrobe.

"Maria?" Alice replied, an almost shaky edge to her voice.

"Yeah, you remember her don't you? I introduced you to her when Jazz and I gave you a tour of the school," he said.

"Um…yeah…yes….I just…uh…Why is Jasper with Maria?" Alice asked.

"Well, they're working together in their composition," Edward replied. Bella peaked over to her shoulder to see Alice biting her lip.

"Oh," Alice said. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat again. "Um…Are you working with anyone?" She asked, trying to be interested in her brother's life.

"I'm supposed to work with one of Maria's friends….Nettie something or other, but I'm thinking about going it alone. The girl's insufferable." Alice gave a soft chuckle.

"That won't get you in a…oh what do the Brits say? Sticky wicket?" She asked. Edward laughed.

"No. In fact we all have the option to work alone. I guess Jasper doesn't mind Maria." Alice flinched at her brother's words.

"Oh," she said. "I…I guess I would've thought you and Jasper would want to work on it together," Alice said in a small voice. Bella felt a wave of guilt for eavesdropping and decided it was best to just focus on changing. She pulled out the tank top that matched her pants.

"Hm, I guess we never thought about working on it together," Edward replied.

"Oh," Alice said, she cleared her throat again and turned towards her closet, idly touching and moving her shoes. "Well, you know, since you guys live together…one may think that…it'd be the most convenient," Alice said. Bella took advantage of Alice facing the other direction and quickly shed her bathrobe before tugging her tank top on. Once she was fully dressed she hung her robe over the back of her desk chair and fished her comb out of her toiletry bag.

"You know, dear sister, you do have a point," Edward said after a moment. "I guess I'll speak to Jasper in the morning about switching partners." Bella sat down on her bed, crossing her legs and placing the comb on her lap. From her position she saw the side of Alice's face and the corner of her mouth turn up in a smile that looked to be a mixture of triumphant and relieved.

"That sounds like a plan," Alice said casually. Bella pulled the towel off her head and let her hair cascade down her back. She covered her shoulders with the towel before pushing her hair over her shoulders. She drew her comb through her hair. "Well, Edward, I'll let you head of to bed. Goodnight," she said.

"Mmmhmm, 'night," Edward replied. "Goodnight, Bella," Edward said, speaking louder to make sure Bella could hear wherever she was. Bella paused the arduous task of detangling her wet tresses to cast a look over at Alice and the phone. Alice was now facing her direction.

"Um…yeah, goodnight," Bella replied before looking away and continuing to comb her hair.

"Bye Edward, thanks for calling," Alice said into the phone. "You should call mom and dad when you get a chance," she added. Edward replied with an agreeing hum.

"Was going to call them tomorrow….err…or well, later today," he chuckled. "I just wanted to give you a call first," he said. Alice nodded and then chuckled to herself.

"Yeah, I know," she said, voicing her nod so Edward could know of it. "Well, I guess I'll talk to you later, need to hang out with my roomie now," she said with a giggle as she looked over to Bella. Bella gave her a small smile.

"Alright, have fun. Love you," he said.

"Love you too, big brother," she softly replied before shutting off her phone. She placed her hand on the doorjamb as she climbed up to her feet. She set her phone down on her desk before plugging it into the charger. She turned back to face Bella and gave her a wide smile before practically skipping over to her and resuming her seat on Bella's bed. Bella didn't mind that Alice didn't bother to ask permission. It didn't bother her. "I'm sorry about Edward," Alice said after a moment. "He's usually not rude, he's just…" Alice trailed off to find the right word. Bella shrugged, deciding to end the search.

"It's fine," Bella replied. She gave Alice a smile that she hoped matched hers to show her she didn't mind. She went back to combing her hair. "Besides, it's not like I'm all that concerned what your brother thinks of me," she went on to say. She titled her head forward a bit and placed one hand on the back of her scalp as the other tried to work out a particularly difficult knot. "You're my friend, not him," she concluded, her tone holding the train of dragging the comb through her hair. After one final tug the comb went through. She sighed relieved and lifted her head back up. Her eyes met Alice and she was taken aback by the expression the girl wore. Alice's eyes were twinkling and she bore a look of pure elation.

"Yeah, you are my friend," she said, her head bobbing in a happy nod. Bella couldn't help chuckle at her antics. The two settled into a comfortable silence as Bella finished combing her hair. She pulled the towel off her shoulders and leaned across her bed to toss it over her desk chair so it hung beside her bathrobe. She then leaned even further to place the comb at the edge of her desk. She sat back on the bed figuring to engage Alice in some conversation.

"So, this Maria girl is she your boyfriend's ex or something?" Bella curiously asked. Alice blinked and gave Bella a shocked look.

"What?" She asked. Bella paused, wondering if she'd overstepped her boundaries.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry I just…." She winced. "Sorry, I just….when your brother mentioned Jasper was working with Maria you….looked upset…" She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have….um, I'm sorry," she muttered. Alice peered at her with a blank look before shaking her head.

"No, its okay," she said. She shrugged. "It's my fault for having the phone on speaker, right?" She said.

"I'm sorry, feel free to tell me to mind my own damn business," Bella said. Alice giggled.

"Hush," she chided. "It's fine." Bella nodded. Alice shrugged and leaned against the wall beside Bella's bed. "Maria's just….She's a piano student like Edward….and I met her when I was there….She's just kind of….." She shook her head unable to find the words she wanted. "I just don't like her. She's kind of snobby and from what I saw of her….She thinks she's all perfect or something and everyone should treat her as such. She thinks she's like the queen bee of the school or something." Alice snorted. "Puh-lease. Edward could play circles around her and those stubby little things she calls fingers," she muttered to herself. She frowned. "It probably doesn't help that she's….you know….beautiful….so, from what I saw….a lot of the guys there were pretty happy to uphold her queen delusions."

"And you're worried Jasper's one of those guys?" Bella asked. Alice looked down and bit her lip. Bella placed a hand on Alice's leg. "You're beautiful," she told her. Alice looked up at Bella and smiled. "I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about," she assured her. She shifted on the bed so she was now leaning against the wall beside her.

"I'm not worried," Alice quickly said, the lie evident in her tone. She gave a nervous chuckle. "Jasper's….just a friend. I just….you know, think he could do better than Maria," she said. Bella eyed her carefully.

"Oh," she said. "And when you say he could do better….do you mean you?" She asked. Alice's face paled slightly more a moment before a blush crept to her cheeks. She shrugged.

"No, of course not," she said. She looked down and nervously wrung her fingers on her lap. "As if he'd want me," she murmured quietly. Bella blinked, completely taken aback by Alice's negative attitude toward herself. Did she see herself at all? She was beautiful, elegant, and sweet to top it all off. Bella couldn't understand where Alice could get an idea like that. This confusion soon turned to outrage that Alice would think such a thing. A part of her didn't know where this outrage came from. She was feeling straggly protective of her new friend and hearing the signs of low self esteem made her spring into action.

"Are you kidding?" Bella blurted out. Before Alice could respond, Bella got up from the bed and made her way to Alice's dresser. Her determination and protective feelings spurned her on, keeping her from pausing to admire the green eyed Adonis as she took hold of the picture and walked back to Alice. Alice sat up, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Bella, what are-"

"Now you take a good look at this, Miss Cullen," Bella ordered, somewhat surprised with herself for being so firm. She pointed her finger to the Adonis' face. "This guy right here adores you, I can see it. So don't you dare think he doesn't want you." Alice stared at her for a long moment before bursting out into a fit of giggles. Bella took a step back, unsure what to make of this sudden change in emotions. Alice's tiny arms wrapped around her torso as her giggles increased. She fell to her side on the bed, her forehead touching Bella's sheets. "What?" Bella finally asked. Alice took a deep breath as she tried to reign in her laughter. After a little while the giggles settled down into small hiccups as she slowly sat up.

"Bella, you are so funny," she said, wiping a tear from her eye that had come on from laughing to hard. Bella frowned.

"How am I being funny? By pointing out that Jasper clearly-"

"That's not Jasper," Alice cut in, another ripple of laughter coursing through her. Bella opened her mouth to reply but stopped when she processed what Alice said.

"It's not?" She said, her firm brazen attitude quickly fading as it was overcome by her suddenly feeling quite foolish. Alice giggled and shook her head. "Uh…oh," she muttered. Alice laughed and got up from the bed, taking the frame from her. "I just thought….um….well, you look so happy in that picture…."

"Well, why wouldn't I be happy around my brother?" Alice replied. Bella's jaw fell open for a moment before she quickly caught herself.

"Um…th….that's Edward?" She asked. Funnily enough, her mind seemed to find the face and voice a much better fit with that name than it did with the name Jasper. Alice nodded. She looked at the picture and gave it a thoughtful smile.

"Jasper took it for us right after he and Edward picked me up from the airport. It was the first time I'd seen Edward since Christmas," she explained. Bella gave a mute nod, unsure what else to say. Alice bit her lip. "And…yeah….I'd just met Jasper," she murmured, her cheeks once again blushing. Bella rubbed her hand over her face, her feelings of foolishness making her head spin.

"And Jasper….wouldn't so happen to be the blonde at the Eiffel Tower?" She hesitantly asked. Alice gave her a surprised look. Bella peeked at her from the space between her fingers. "Sorry, when you were saying goodbye to your family I just sort of glanced over at your pictures…" She said. Alice's tiny mouth made an O shape before she gave an understanding nod. Bella awkwardly sat down at the edge of her bed while Alice returned the picture back to its spot. Bella's head swam as she processed the information she had just acquired. Though she felt a little better about appreciating the green eyed Adonis' looks now that she knew he was Alice's brother and not her boyfriend, she wasn't sure if that made things any better. On one hand, she figured lusting after her friend's brother wouldn't be a good idea given what Alice had said about Rosalie and Emmett earlier that day. And then there was how Edward had behaved on the phone. When she thought he was the blonde she didn't let his words bother her much. But now that she knew the words had come from the bronze haired beauty she couldn't help feel a little unsettled. She suddenly felt very indignant about the whole thing. How dare he think she wasn't good enough to be his sister's friend? He didn't even know her! Suddenly his emerald green eyes and perfect in its imperfection bronze hair weren't all that appealing.

Bella was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't even hear Alice return with another frame in her hand. She felt the bed sink beside her as Alice sat down next to her, the frame on her lap.

"We took the train to Paris my first weekend with them," Alice explained. Bella could see a calm look overtake her friend's features, much like the expression she wore in the picture. She looked back down at the picture and looked at it through new eyes. Originally she had thought Alice's small smile and calm expression spoke to almost feeling forced to pose with the tall blonde being beside her. But now she could see that wasn't it at all. Alice's expression didn't speak to a lack of desire to be posing with this person. It spoke to something else; as if this was the one person she'd happily pose with wherever she was. It spoke of love.

"He's cute," Bella offered, unsure what else to say. Alice shot a look at her. "Oh, no, I mean…cute for you," Bella quickly stated. Alice giggled and looked back at the picture. "Well," Bella observed, "now that I know who Jasper is," she said, "I still think my previous assessment applies," she said. "I mean…I don't know him….but, I think he likes you," she said. Alice looked at her friend, her eyes lit up like a thousand Christmas tree lights.

"You think so?" She asked. Bella nodded. Alice blushed again and scooted backwards on Bella's bed so she could cross her legs and face her. Bella figured she'd do the same, feeling they were stepping into 'girl talk' territory. "Well he…he was really sweet to me," Alice admitted. She looked down at the picture. "He really helped me a lot," she murmured. She seemed to catch herself and quickly looked up at Bella. "I mean…with getting around," she quickly clarified. "He and Edward had different schedules and Jasper took me sightseeing around London when Edward was in class my first few days there." Bella nodded, smiling. She felt there was something more, something Alice wasn't telling her, but she decided not to pry.

"Sounds romantic," Bella said. Alice bit her lip as a smile overtook her face, reaching ear to ear. She gave a tiny happy squeak, obviously thinking about her time alone with Jasper before looking back down at the picture. "So did you two….go out or anything?" Bella asked. The second the words left her mouth she felt silly since given Alice's previous negative attitude it was clear they hadn't. Alice looked back up at her.

"No," she said. "I mean….I could never….you know……He's Edward's best friend, it wouldn't be right," she said. Bella looked at her and slowly nodded.

"So that's what you meant," she muttered.

"What?" Alice asked.

"Earlier…when you said you didn't like your friends dating your brothers…you said you felt like a hypocrite," she said. Alice nodded.

"Yeah," she muttered. She thoughtfully ran her fingers over Jasper's image. "He'd call me honey a lot," she said. Bella tilted her head to the side.

"Oh?" She asked. Alice's smile seemed to grow as she thought back to it, hearing Jasper's voice in her head.

"Yeah….He'd say 'Alice, honey,' and…Well, he's from Texas, so…he's got this little southern drawl…and he'd…I don't know, make it sound like one word…the way he'd say it…I can't even explain it….It was just so smooth." She gushed. She looked up at Bella. "He even called me darlin' once," she giggled.

"Well, that's a good sign….right?" Bella said.

"I guess," Alice said. "And…he did give me his cell phone number," she added. "But…he was probably just being friendly….or…I don't know…helpful. Like if I can't reach Edward sometime and get worried, I can call him to see if everything's okay."

"Or he wants you to call him," Bella countered. "Maybe not just because he wants to be friends." Alice's features lit up even more, if it were possible. "Have you called him?" Bella asked. Alice shook her head.

"I mean, we've exchanged some emails…..okay….a lot of emails…." She giggled. "He calls me 'Alice, honey' even in those," she revealed. Bella laughed.

"Well, Alice, it does look like Jasper's," Bella paused and looked down at the picture before looking back up at Alice, "blue eyes are set on you," she said. "Something tells me you don't have to worry about Maria and her stubby fingers." Alice giggled. She set the picture aside.

"Can I hug you?" She asked. Bella laughed and nodded, letting the tiny girl launch herself on her. "You are the greatest friend ever," Alice gushed against Bella's shoulder as she hugged her. Bella chuckled. She wasn't sure what to make of that. She didn't think she'd gone above and beyond the call of duty in their short time knowing each other to deserve being called that quite yet, but if that were the case, she had a nagging worry about what kind of friends Alice might've had before. Bella wrapped her arms around Alice and returned the hug.

"You're not such a bad friend yourself," she replied, causing Alice to laugh against her. Bella smiled. She decided that, if for whatever reason she had deserved the title of greatest friend, she'd do her best to make sure being given that title wasn't a mistake. And, Bella figured, if she could prove Alice's snobbish brother wrong in the process, all the better.

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**Alright kiddies, you've got yourselves a long-ish chapter *and* a little bit of Edward……Does that make you all happy? Haha. Sure, Bella thinks Edward's a jerk but……..hey, he's there, so…that's something, right?**

**Expect next chapter around Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm thinking trying to get all the way to the meat to the story before Christmas might not be do-able but I'm still going to get as much of the story out as I can. (If you guys haven't figured it out yet….that's cause the real meat takes place around Christmas, lol.).**

**Oh, and this time, I promise, this is the last chapter devoted to move-in day, haha. **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey all sorry for not having this up by when I originally promised, got caught up in the holiday laziness. Anyway, just wanted to take a moment to point out everyone's ages and grades since…I don't know, in case anyone was confused or anything-**

**Alice and Bella: 18 years old (with Bella being almost 19 of course, given the time of the year in the story at this point), freshmen.  
****Rosalie, Jasper, Edward: 20 years old. Rosalie's a sophomore while the boys are in their third year at the music conservatory.  
****Emmett: as already mentioned in the story, 21 years old. Junior.  
****Carlisle & Esme: somewhere in their mid to late forties.  
****Ages of other characters that come into play later will be revealed as the story progresses.**

**Also, yeah there is a little bit about move-in day in here, just because I wanted to close up the night since I left it at around 8pm. BUT I am covering all of Orientation in here, so yay no more boatload of chapters devoted to just one day in time.**

**Anyway, with that said, on with the story!**

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After the hug there was more Alice gushing about Jasper. Bella smiled and nodded as Alice went on and on about the blonde. Through the conversation Bella learned that Jasper was a guitar student at the school Edward also attended. Bella had to bite back a chuckle when Alice's eyes glazed over as she talked about seeing Jasper play. The blush on her face as she mentioned his hands nearly made Bella blush just from the implication as to where Alice's fascination with his hands might've stemmed from. Bella didn't really have many close girl friends back in Forks. The three girls she had hung around in the latter half of high school, Lauren Mallory, Angela Weber and Jessica Stanley were friends, sure, some better friends than others, but she wasn't one to dish out girl talk, especially that dealing with sex.

As it was, she couldn't stand Lauren. The girl seemed to wear a permanent scowl on her face whenever Bella was around. The only reason Bella even associated with her was that she had somehow found herself in the same group of friends as Lauren. If she could've had a say in who made up her circle of friends, Lauren would not be in the running at all. Jessica was only slightly better than Lauren. She wasn't outwardly snide like her; she had actually been quite nice to her. But, after a few times of being in one of the stalls in the girls' bathroom and overhearing what Jessica really thought of her as she talked to Lauren by the sinks, she came to realize that as bad as Lauren was, at least Lauren was forthcoming with her dislike for Bella. Jessica was quite twofaced and mostly clinging to Bella's side to get closer to Mike. As much as Bella hated to think of herself as vindictive, she couldn't deny that seeing Jessica's true colors did have a small hand in her not turning down Mike when he asked her to senior prom.

Angela was definitely the shining beacon amongst the three girl friends. She was too kind to use twofaced backhanded tactics to get what she wanted. If Bella had to actually say she had a best girl friend in high school, Angela would be it without question. But even with their closeness, Angela was a lot like Bella in being more on the quiet side. Perhaps that's another reason why they got along so well while Jessica and Lauren seemed like two peas in their own pod. Sure, Bella and Angela chatted and hung out, but they weren't ones to overly gush about things, especially boys. Even after Angela and her boyfriend Ben almost became two peas in their own awkward yet sweetly romantic pod, discussions about boys and sex were not something Bella and Angela indulged in.

Bella thought that since she'd mostly avoided going on and on about boys, hearing Alice talk about Jasper would unsettle her, but aside from the comment about Jasper's hands, Bella was actually quite comfortable with the conversation.

"Hey, want to watch a DVD?" Alice asked after she seemed to get all the Jasper gushing out of her system for now.

"Sure," Bella said. Alice smiled brightly.

"Great," she said, getting up from the bed. "Why don't you pick something out while I get ready for bed?"

"Okay," Bella agreed. "Do you have any preferences?" She asked as Alice went to her side of the room. She crouched down underneath her bed and pulled out two large bins that looked like stylish milk crates. Bella had seen her shove them under her bed when she and her family were setting up her things. She hadn't paid attention to the contents before but she could now see they were filled to the brim with different DVD cases.

"Whatever you want to watch is fine," Alice replied. She stood up and swept her arm towards the crates, welcoming Bella to come on over and look through the wide array of selections. "That one has movies," she said, pointing to the purple colored one, "and that one has TV show sets," she said, pointing to the hot pink colored crate. Bella nodded and stood up from the bed. She sat down before the crates as Alice went to her dresser and pulled out her sleepwear. Bella pulled the crate filled with movies closer to herself and shuffled through the selection while Alice draped her nightclothes over her arm and grabbed her bag of toiletries. "I'll be back," she announced as she made her way to the door. Bella gave her a nod before continuing to look through the movies.

As Bella looked through the movies she found herself quite impressed with the wide array of movies. There were chick flicks and romance movies, which Bella was half expecting from what she could get of Alice's personality. She couldn't help chuckle a bit at Alice's selection of Disney movies, they seemed just as fitting in Alice's movie collection as the chick flicks. Alice also had a few action and comedy movies as well as some classics, which thrilled Bella since she wasn't that up to speed on the latest cinematic releases. Bella finally decided on Alice's copy of _Monty Python and the Holy Grail _when Alice walked back into the room. She held the clothes she had left the room in in one arm while the other held her bag of toiletries. She was wearing satin lavender colored pajama set. The blouse of the set had a deep v-neck which Alice seemed to compensate for by wearing a white cotton undershirt that picked out from the collar.

Alice gave Bella a bright smile in greeting as she walked over to her dresser, the cuffs of her pants sweeping across the floor as she walked. She set her bag on the dresser and dumped her clothes in the white hamper she had beside her dresser.

"Did you find anything you like?" She asked as she practically skipped over to Bella. Bella held up the DVD in her hand. Alice grinned. "Nice choice," she said, "its one of Edward's favorites," she added as she took the DVD case from Bella and made her way to the TV stand. She gave a small chuckle. "He's made me watch it with him like a million times, after he first went off to England it felt weird not watching it anymore," she explained as she powered up the TV and DVD player. Bella smiled.

"That's sweet," she commented. Alice gave her a look over her shoulder and grinned, giving a small shrug before returning to the task at hand. Bella looked at the two crates still sticking out from Alice's bed. "Do you want me to shove these back under your bed?"

"Sure, thanks," Alice replied as she kneeled before the TV stand and opened up the case. Once the movie was in the player the girls settled into their beds to watch it, with Alice shutting off the light in the room before crawling under her covers. They laughed throughout most of the movie, each occasionally saying the lines along with the characters. Bella couldn't help laughing as Alice flawlessly sang along to "Knights of the Round Table". Bella had only herself seen the movie a few times and could only remember one line by heart herself. Under any circumstances she would've simply observed Alice, but the levity her roommate possessed was infectious and caused Bella to join in when the time came.

"I have to turn the pram a lot," she said in the lowest voice she could muster, which caused Alice to giggle. As the movie progressed the girls grew quiet and simply enjoyed the movie. As the Knights Who Say Ni withered in pain at the word "it", Bella felt her eyes start to grow heavy. She looked across the room to see Alice was already fast asleep. Bella slowly got up from her bed and walked over to the makeshift nightstand beside Alice's bed to grab the remote. She squinted to see the buttons in the light the TV gave off before finally finding the OFF buttons. She shut off the DVD player and TV and set the remote on the stand before carefully making her way to her bed in the dark. The floor was free of clutter but Bella didn't want to chance stubbing her toe on the edge of her bed or anything just as troublesome. Bella finally reached her bed and carefully crawled under her blankets. Mere minutes after she curled to her side and pulled the covers over her shoulders, she too was fast asleep.

---

"Belllllaaa," a sing-song voice called, nudging Bella from sleep. She felt a small finger poke her nose. Bella groaned and blindly tried to swat it away, which was only met with a giggle and another poke. "Wake up, sleepyhead," the voice said. Bella pried one eye open to see what was disturbing her from slumber. She saw Alice kneeling beside her bed, her tiny face level with Bella's eye line. Alice smiled. "Good morning," she chirped. Bella closed her eye and sighed.

"What time is it?" She grumbled her voice heavy with sleep.

"Seven thirty," she replied. Bella groaned.

"Too early," she whined, ready to pull her blanket over her head to block out the perky creature. Alice giggled.

"Come on, the dining hall only serves breakfast until nine and I want to find out fast whether or not we'd be better off stocking up on our own groceries," she commanded. She stood up and took hold of Bella's blanket and yanked it off of her, causing Bella to whine some more as she made feeble attempts to grab it in her prone position. "Now up, up, up," Alice stated. Bella groaned yet again.

"I loath you," she said. Alice laughed.

"That's fine," she said, "just as long as you're loathing me while you're getting your butt out of bed," she said. Bella sighed and pushed herself up to a sitting position, shoving her hair out of her face as the last remnants of sleep faded from her mind. Alice smiled, seeing Bella's upright position as a sign that plan "wake Bella up" was successful, and walked across the room to her dresser. Bella cringed as she saw Alice was already showered and ready for the day in dark elegant jeans, white baby tee and sneakers that looked like they probably cost more than Bella's entire wardrobe. "Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Alice asked while looking at Bella through the reflection of the mirror connected to the dresser as she slid a wide white headband up through her short damp locks, letting the ends nestle behind her ears and sliding it across her hair until it rested on the desired spot on the crown of her head.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Bella asked around a yawn, scratching her head. Alice shook her head and began applying her makeup for the day. She brought a black eyeliner wand up and flawlessly did her eyes. Bella chuckled to herself as she remembered her attempts to put on makeup for prom. It ended in poking herself in the eye about four times before she gave up on the concept of eye makeup entirely.

"No, I'm a pretty sound sleeper," Alice said. She finished lining the lower lid of her right eye and switched to her left side. "I just heard you mumbling some stuff after I woke up," she informed. Bella nodded and climbed out of bed, now sufficiently awake.

"Did I say anything too embarrassing?" Bella conversationally asked as she went to her own dresser to pick out her clothes for the day.

"Hmm, nah," Alice replied as she worked on her upper lids. "You mostly just muttered stuff, so I didn't really hear all of it," she said. "I just caught something about pixies or something," she said amusedly. Bella hid a snort behind a fake cough. Alice set her eyeliner down and looked at Bella over her shoulder. "You have some Tinkerbelle fascination you need to tell me about?" She asked, a grin lighting up her face. Bella chuckled and pulled out a blue t-shirt from her drawer.

"Apparently," she said. She grabbed a pair of jeans from her dresser along with a set of underwear and grabbed her bag of toiletries. "I'm going to go and have myself a human moment," Bella said, grabbing her towel off her desk chair. Alice giggled as she picked up a compact.

"You're so weird," she said. Bella shrugged and shuffled out of the room. As she made her way to the bathroom she saw that most people weren't as into waking up at 7am on a Sunday as the hallway was empty. The restroom itself wasn't as bare as she saw two girls at the sinks and the sound of at least one shower running. Bella ensconced herself in one of the toilet stalls to make use of it and change her clothes. She killed two birds with one stone by stripping off her pants as she sat down and situating her underpants and jeans nearby to pull those on instead of her pajama pants once her bladder was empty. Once she was on her feet again she pulled her tank top off to exchange it for her bra and t-shirt. Now fully changed, she gathered up her clothes and bag and made her way to the sink to brush her teeth and hair.

By the time she returned to her room Alice had already finished putting on most of her makeup and was just gliding on a coat of lip gloss to her lips, giving her mouth a pink shine. Her cheeks were a rosy color and her eyes were done with up in a small amount of shimmering white eye shadow.

"Isn't that just going to get messed up when you eat?" Bella asked, not understanding the need to be made up for breakfast, as she set her clothes and bag on her bed. Alice recapped her gloss and turned to face Bella.

"You do know make-up is re-applicable, right?" She joked before disappearing in the closet and reappearing with a white handbag on one arm and a light colored argyle cardigan in her other hand. She set the bag on her dresser and pulled her sweater on. Once her sweater was on she tossed in the different items of makeup she'd put on in her bag before tossing in her cell phone, wallet, and room key.

"Oh, no, I did not know that," Bella joked as she grabbed her own small denim messenger bag. She wasn't much of a handbag or purse person but the bag had been a graduation present from Angela and she figured she'd get some use out of it. She tossed in her wallet, keys and cell phone, which had been a graduation gift/instrument of frequent checking up on and keeping in touch from her father.

"Do you think we'll have time to come back here before the orientation festivities begin?" Alice pondered aloud. Bella shrugged.

"Not sure, what time does everything start?" She asked. Alice picked up her copy of the itinerary from her desk and looked it over.

"The freshmen assembly's at ten," Alice replied. She scrunched up her face. "It'd be pointless to come all the way back here even if we finish breakfast with plenty time left," Alice reasoned. Bella nodded her agreement. "So we should probably take these with us, right?" Alice said, waving the itinerary.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Bella said. She picked up her own copy of the itinerary and folded it up before sliding it into the front pocket of her bag as Alice did the same with her own copy and bag. Once Bella slipped on her own worn sneakers—secretly cringing to herself at the stark contrast between her and Alice's footwear—the two girls left the room. After Bella had locked their door behind them, Alice slipped her arm through Bella's like she had a few times the previous night, like they were lifelong girl friends about to head out to a day of shopping or any other activity close girl friends engaged in together. As much as doing this when they'd only known each other for almost a day was slightly off putting Bella couldn't deny Alice. It felt nice walking down the hall with Alice excitedly chattering beside her. Bella couldn't understand where this came from; she wasn't one to usually be so desperate for the girl friend connection. In her almost two year long friendship with Angela, she and Bella had hugged at most maybe a small handful of times but never engaged in extreme displays of girl friend solidarity like she seemed to be caught up in with Alice. In fact there were times when she rolled her eyes when Jessica and Lauren did the very same thing she and Alice were doing this moment. Bella didn't think there was a difference in connection between herself and Alice and that she had shared with Alice. But even still, she couldn't pinpoint in her mind why things were so different.

Once Bella and Alice exited their building they were able to quickly locate the food service building. It was only a few feet from their dorm, not to mention there were signs posted along the walkways for the benefit of the school's newcomers. They walked into the building. It was made up of two floors. The first floor looked like a school cafeteria with a line going to a counter where workers were scooping food into student's awaiting plates. In the center of the dining area that was made up of many round tables with chairs, there was something that looked like a salad bar you would see in a restaurant, except that it held different types of cereal and fruit instead of elements of a salad. Against the wall there were beverage dispensers like those seen at a fast food restaurant or Seven Eleven. One had different types of juice, another had different types of soda, and the other had five different types of milk—whole, one percent, two percent, skim, and chocolate. Beside the milk dispenser she saw a smaller dispenser that had a spout for hot water and a spout for coffee. Beside that dispenser was a counter that held several different packets of tea.

"Well, let's get ourselves some grub, shall we?" Alice smiled as she led Bella over to the line. As it was, the line wasn't very long and the two found themselves at the front of it grabbing trays and plates. Before them was a large heated counter with varied forms of breakfast foods behind a screen where an older woman with a kind smile and hairnet stood.

"What can I get you, dears?" She asked. Bella and Alice eyed the selections before them. There were scrambled eggs, seasoned potatoes, sausage links, bacon waffles, pancakes, and French toast.

"Could I have eggs?" Alice requested. The woman nodded and reached over the glass for Alice's plate. Alice handed to her and watched as the woman put a scoop of eggs on it.

"Is that enough?" The woman asked. Alice nodded. "Anything else?" Alice eyed the other selections carefully, biting the edge of her lip as if deep in thought. After a moment she looked back up at the woman and shook her head.

"No, thank you," she said. The woman nodded.

"Alright, well the plate's a little hot honey, bring your tray up," she advised. Alice lifted her tray and braced herself for the added weight as the woman set the plate down. Alice gave her a small smile and lowered the tray as the woman focused her eyes on Bella. "And how about you?" She asked. Bella lifted her plate and handed to the woman.

"Two scoop of eggs and two strips of bacon and a waffle, please," Bella replied, seeing the small amount on eggs Alice's plate as not being enough for herself. She figured perhaps Alice intended to fill her plate with some fruit or other items.

"Alright honey," the woman replied as she piled on the requested items. Like Alice, Bella lifted her tray up and let the woman place the plate on it before she and Alice walked over to get themselves drinks. Alice got herself a glass of skim milk while Bella got herself a glass of orange juice before moving to get herself some coffee. Once their trays were adequately filled both girls walked over to find themselves a table. They opted for an empty table by one of the large windows in the dining area and sat down. Bella took hold of her fork and knife and began cutting into her waffle as Alice poked at her eggs.

"Could you pass me the syrup?" Bella asked. Alice looked over to see the small pitcher of syrup beside her and slid it to Bella. Bella smiled her thanks and poured a dollop of it on her waffle bits. She eyed Alice for a moment. "Is that all you're eating?" Bella asked. She expected Alice to walk over to get herself some fruit once she had set her tray down and was taken aback when the small girl had sat down and made herself comfortable. Alice blinked and looked down at her plate before looking at Bella. She bit her lip for a moment. Something passed over her eyes, a look Bella couldn't quite place, although it made her look like a small child who had just realized a mistake.

"Um, well, I…wanted to test out the food first," Alice murmured. Bella frowned and looked at her own plate. She speared one of the strips of bacon, the one that hadn't been touched by the overflow of syrup, with her fork and stuck it on Alice's plate. Alice blinked, visibly surprised by Bella's action.

"I'm sorry; you're not a vegetarian or something, are you?" Bella asked, wondering if she'd done something wrong. The night before at dinner Alice had decided to try the mushroom ravioli and therefore Bella didn't have any knowledge of her roommate's carnivore status. Alice smiled and shook her head.

"No, I'm a meat eater," she assured. She bit her lip. "Sorry, I just…" She cleared her throat and looked away.

"Alice?" She asked worriedly. Alice's uncharacteristic moments of quiet were beginning to concern Bella. Alice took a breath and eyed Bella for a moment before giving her a smile that could've lit up a mine shaft.

"It's nothing," she said. "Just…I'm not used to eating like this….with friends," she admitted. Bella furrowed her brows, unsure what she meant. Alice shrugged and took a sip of her milk. "Most girls at my high school would be so concerned about calorie counts and such. If you even joked about eating bacon they'd look at you like you were insane." Bella gave her a slow nod. She could understand what she meant. She had observed Jessica and Lauren eat like birds at lunch time a few times only to then complain about how hungry they were later on. Bella questioned as to why they didn't just eat like normal people once and after Lauren made her snide reply about how "not everyone's confident enough to wear cellulite with pride like you, Bella" Bella decided to keep her mouth shut and let them starve themselves.

"Well, there's no point in risking starvation just to hide from calories," Bella said as she plopped a bit of her waffle into her mouth. She hadn't cared if Lauren and Jessica walked around with perpetually growling stomachs, but Alice was different. Alice was nice and Bella cared about her.

"Yeah," Alice said. She picked up the piece of bacon Bella had given her and thoughtfully nibbled on the end. Bella ate her breakfast and eyed Alice as she slowly ate her own food. Alice caught her staring and chuckled. "I'm not some crazy anorexic if that's what you're thinking," she said. "I mean, hey, you saw me eat yesterday, didn't you?" Bella thought back to the previous night, paying more attention to what had happened afterwards. Alice had not made any hasty retreats to the bathroom after she ate like she had seen some girls do back when she was living in Arizona. She nodded, feeling confident that an eating disorder wasn't whatever secret Alice was obviously hiding. Alice shrugged. "I can eat with my family….I know…you know….it's nothing….but….with friends….." her voice trailed off. Bella took a heaping scoop of her eggs and shoved it into her mouth.

"Does it look like I care?" Bella joked, not caring that she was talking with her mouth full. Alice threw her head back and laughed. Bella closed her mouth and finished chewing her food, happy she had made Alice laugh so loudly.

"No, it doesn't," Alice replied. Bella grinned and swallowed her food before taking a sip of her coffee. Alice eyed Bella's plated. "How's the waffle?" She asked. Bella edged the plate towards her and let Alice reach over and take a piece with her fork. She popped it into her mouth and smiled.

"Good?" Bella asked. Alice nodded.

"Really good," Alice said once she swallowed. Bella smiled. "Mind if I steal another piece?" She asked. Bella shrugged.

"Sure," she said. Alice grinned. Bella decided against huffing and insisting Alice got her own waffle. She was getting the impression that it was best not to push Alice and to rather take baby steps. She was happy to see Alice was comfortable enough to dip a piece of the waffle to collect as much syrup as she could before carefully plopping it into her mouth, making sure not to let any drop on her clothes.

"Hey girls," a voice called out. They looked up to see Rosalie making her way over with her tray. On it there was a bowl of fruit, a muffin and a glass of orange juice. She was dressed similarly to how she had been dressed the day before when they had first met her, in jeans and a different colored university t-shirt than the one she had worn the day before.

"Hi," Alice said brightly. Rosalie stopped at their table.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked.

"Go ahead," Alice smiled. Rosalie returned the gesture and sat across from them. Alice's eyebrows rose at her breakfast selection. "Ooooh, where'd you get the muffin?" She asked.

"Over there, by the bagels," Rosalie replied, pointing to the cereal stand. On the end, by the fruit, there was a selection of bagels, breads and muffins. Alice's face lit up.

"I'll be back," she quickly muttered before almost shooting out of her seat. Bella chuckled and returned to eating her food.

"She's definitely an excitable one, isn't she?" Rosalie endearingly commented. Bella laughed.

"Just a tad," she replied. Alice returned with a small plate that held a blueberry muffin and sat back down.

"Can I borrow your knife when you're done?" She asked Rosalie who was using a knife to cut her muffin in half. Rosalie nodded and handed it over once her muffin was cut. Alice cut hers down the middle like Rosalie had and then cut those halves down the middle so she now had it in quarters, before handing it back to Rosalie.

"So, you guys not big on sleeping in on Sundays?" Rosalie conversely asked before taking a sip of her juice.

"I am, but apparently she's not," Bella said, playfully jutting a thumb towards Alice who was happily munching on a piece of her muffin. Alice giggled and took a sip of her milk to help the muffin piece go down before replying.

"I wanted to check out what the food was like, you know, find out early if it sucked and we needed to load up on groceries in the dorm," she said. She frowned and looked at Rosalie. "Oh, we are allowed to have food in the room, right?" Rosalie nodded.

"Yeah, just as long as you get air tight containers for things that might not close completely, like cereals and chips. We don't want pest problems, and if, god forbid, we do have one, it's a good way to keep your stuff protected." Bella and Alice nodded. "The food here isn't too bad," Rosalie said as she speared a small honeydew chunk with her fork. "But it doesn't hurt to have some stuff in your room anyway. You know, just in case you miss breakfast or just don't feel like leaving the dorm…like say when winter comes along." The girls nodded.

"Are all the meal times on such a tight schedule?" Bella asked, noting that breakfast was only being served until 9.

"Down here it is, but upstairs it's open consistently from noon to 10pm," Rosalie informed.

"What's upstairs?" Alice inquired.

"It's kind of like a food court," Rosalie replied. "There's different types of food—there's a counter for pizzas and pasta, a grill with burgers and some fried food, and there's a sandwich and wrap station, and some other stuff. There's also a little convenience store in the corner and a little coffee stand. That level isn't open today though." She said. "That'll be open after everyone has their food plans figured out," she said. "Oh that's another thing, today meals are free since its orientation and all, but usually there'll be someone at the door to swipe your ID card. It's cheaper to eat down here since it just uses up one meal credit, but upstairs it all depends on what you get," Rosalie said.

"Oh," Alice thoughtfully nodded. She smiled. "Thanks for all the info," she said. Rosalie grinned.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for," she said. The three girls continued eating and idly conversing for a short while before Rosalie finished off her muffin and took her last bite of fruit. "Alright, girls," she said, finishing her juice, "I must depart, but I'll see you guys at the assembly," she said. Bella and Alice nodded their goodbyes as Rosalie left. Alice pulled out her copy of the itinerary from her bag to look it over as Bella continued eating.

"Are you going to the language placement tests?" Alice asked as she saw those would be taking place after the assembly. Bella nodded.

"Mmmhmm, figure I'll continue to trudge my way through Spanish," Bella joked. "I didn't do too horribly in it in high school," she said. "…Well, okay, I got a C…but…I figure I've got some of the basics down," she joked. Alice laughed. "You?"

"French," Alice replied. "I'm going to need it if I want to take the fashion world by storm since _everything_ pretty much revolves around France," Alice joked. Bella nodded.

"So, you're majoring in design or something?" Bella asked, surprised they hadn't shared their majors beforehand. Alice nodded.

"And minoring in fashion merchandising," she replied with a shrug, "I figure being a buyer for……I don't know…..Prada or whatever…….until I get my own line into works…..is sensible." Bella smiled.

"You've got some lofty goals," she noted. Alice grinned.

"Jasper said to me once if you don't dream big then what's the point of dreaming," she said. Bella nodded.

"Jasper sounds like a very wise man," she said. Alice's grin only widened. Bella prepared herself for whatever Jasper talk that would unleash but Alice simply adopted a dreamy look for a moment before giggling and looking back at Bella.

"What are you majoring in?" She asked.

"English literature," Bella replied.

"Oh, are you a writer?" Alice interestedly asked. Bella shrugged.

"I guess," she said. "But I like to read more," she added. She gave another shrug. "Not sure where that'll take me."

"You could be an editor or something major at a publishing house," Alice suggested. Bella smiled.

"Yeah, I guess," she said. "Or I'll just be perpetually unemployed and live in a box somewhere," she kidded. Alice laughed and shook her head.

"I'd never let you live in a box," she said. Bella cast a look at her friend. Though Alice was laughing there was a shine of seriousness in her eyes. Bella smiled.

"Thanks, I'll remember I've got a fashionista friend to mooch off of if times get tough," she joked. Alice grinned.

"You'd better," she said. After the girls finished their meals they disposed of their plates and trays. It was already getting close to ten so they left the building and made their way to the campus theatre hall where the assembly was to be held. They entered to see other fellow freshmen had arrived early. The girls found some seats near the head of the theatre and sat down. They saw Rosalie up front with a group of girls. She caught their gaze and sent them a smile and wave which they returned.

After a short while the theatre filled up and the assembly began. The dean of the school opened up the assembly with a speech welcoming all the freshmen and discussing the benefits of the education they would be receiving at this fine institution. Afterwards he went into the topic of academic honesty and the reprecautions of plagiarism and cheating. After he finished speaking, an upper classmen came up to discuss the student employment center and some of the jobs available to students on campus. Bella made a mental note to inquire about job opportunities as he spoke. After that a group of male students came on stage to discuss the different fraternities on campus. Out of the corner of her eye Bella caught Rosalie make a disgusted face when Royce King, one of the representatives from Tau Kappa Epsilon, was speaking.

After the men left the stage, Rosalie and the group of girls she was with stepped up. Bella then noticed that Rosalie and the girl she was standing with were both wearing purple and white t-shirts. After some girls spoke about their sororities, Rosalie and her companion, Vera, came up to speak about Tri Sigma. After that was done the dean came back on stage to remind the students about the language and math placement test that would be going on that day before closing out the assembly.

"Well, off to the language building," Alice tittered as she and Bella stood up. Bella chuckled and nodded.

"Alice Cullen?" A voice called, causing them to stop. They turned to see Rosalie and Vera approaching them, sidestepping past students making their way out of the theatre.

"Hi," Alice greeted. Vera smiled at Alice.

"Hello Alice," she said, taking Alice's hand to shake it. "My name is Vera, I'm the president of the Tri Sigs," she said, Alice nodded, indicating she knew this. "Well, I just wanted to personally extend an invitation to you to our first pledge party next Saturday," she said.

"Oh," Alice said. "Uh….thank you?" She muttered, just mildly confused. Vera smiled.

"Of course, it's just a formality, it's not like you need to worry about getting in," she said.

"Ver, we don't even know if she plans on pledging," Rosalie softly pointed out. Vera rolled her eyes and ignored her companion.

"Um….well, I actually…wasn't…." Alice murmured. Vera laughed.

"Oh don't be silly. You're a legacy, honey," she said. Rosalie rolled her eyes behind Vera's back. Alice nodded.

"I….well……thank you," she kindly said. "But….I really haven't made any decisions about sorority life yet, maybe next year?" She said. She didn't give Vera a chance to respond before sliding her arm through Bella's and walking away. Vera stared at their departing forms with her mouth agape while Rosalie secretly snickered behind her back. Once Bella and Alice were outside the theatre Alice heaved a sigh.

"Ugh, the sorority wolves have chosen to descend," she said. Bella gave her arm a gentle squeeze. She looked at Bella. "And how rude was it that she didn't even look at you? I'm sorry, but when did it become part of Sigma code to be rude?"

"It's okay," Bella said with a shrug. "It's not like I was bothered me. I'm not exactly sorority material," Bella chuckled. Alice huffed and simply walked along the walkway with her. "So, your mother was a Sigma?" Bella questioned. Alice nodded, heaving a sigh.

"And my grandmother," she said, "and numerous other females on the Platt side of the family tree. Not here of course, different chapters," she said. Bella nodded.

"It's not for you?" Bella asked. Alice shrugged.

"I just don't like that I'm expected to join just because I'm a legacy. Vera doesn't even know me, what if I'm the complete opposite of what they want?" She gave a soft sigh. "Even my mother said I don't have to continue the tradition if I don't want to. She herself sometimes wishes she hadn't." Bella gave a thoughtful nod.

"Well then you don't have to do it," Bella said. Alice shook her head.

"I can't believe Rosalie didn't say anything about being one of _them_," Alice grumbled. Bella shrugged.

"Maybe she didn't want your friendship with her or your mother's impression of her to be just based on that," Bella said. The two neared the language building and Alice was still fuming. Bella sighed and stopped in her tracks. She took hold of Alice's shoulders and made her look at her. "Okay, you need to let this go," she advised. "Stewing about this will just make you lose focus on the placement exam and you'll end up in the wrong class just because you couldn't concentrate on showcasing your true French abilities on the exam." Alice blew out a long breath.

"I know, bu-"

"But nothing, Alice let this go," she gently ordered. Alice closed her eyes and took a few more steady breaths. After a few moments she opened her eyes.

"Okay, it's out of my system, for now at least," she said. "Thanks." Bella smiled and nodded. She slipped her hands off Alice's shoulders and linked their arms again. Alice smiled as they continued walking for it was the first time Bella had initiated the friendly gesture.

---

The language exams were being held in different rooms, meaning the girls had to part ways. They were in the building for two hours with the first hour consisting of the actual exams and the second hour consisting of the language professors going over the exams and marking what language the students should take. Bella ended up having to take first level Spanish—much to her dismay--while Alice, thanks to doing well in the language in high school, would be taking second level French. Bella had decided to give herself a break from math for her first semester in college and therefore opted out of taking the math placement exam. She would be required to make an appointment with the department to take it another time which didn't bother her. She accompanied Alice to the math building and used the time Alice was taking the test to go to the student employment office next to it. She picked up some fliers about working at the student bookstore and library before going outside to wait for Alice. She was only waiting for a half an hour before Alice came out to meet her.

"Apparently I have to take algebra," Alice said, rolling her eyes. She shrugged to herself as she and Bella made their way to get their ID pictures taken. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about trig just yet. That murdered me last year." Bella laughed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she replied.

The line to get ID pictures taken was relatively long but the two friends spent their time happily chatting, or more specificically Alice happily chatted while Bella smiled and listened. Since the pictures were taken rather quickly they didn't have to wait long before they were at the front of the line. Alice went first and stepped into the room were the pictures were being taken. Five minutes later she stepped out waving her small ID card. Bella glanced at it, as expected Alice's picture was flawless.

"Your turn," Alice chirped. Bella chuckled and nodded, making her way into the room. She was happy to see that the camera being used was situated in front of a chair. She was increasingly less clumsy sitting down then she was standing so she was confident in perhaps having a decent ID picture taken for the first time in her life.

"Take a seat please," said a voice from behind the camera. Bella nodded and sat on the small wooden chair that was situated against the wall before the camera. "Lift your chin, please," the voice ordered and Bella complied. "Okay, on 1…2….and…" his voice trailed off as a bright flash went off, momentarily blinding Bella. She blinked a few times and robbed her eyes. "Alright, it'll be ready in a few minutes," he said. Bella nodded and stood up. She walked over to the counter where a loud machine sat. It looked to be connected to the camera. The man got out from behind the camera and went to the computer by the machine. "Name?" He asked.

"Bella Swan," she replied. He typed it into the computer and eyed the screen.

"You mean Isabella Swan?" He asked. Bella sighed.

"Yeah, sorry," she said. The man nodded and did some more typing. Once he was done the machine whirred to life. After a minute something slid down the side dispenser of the machine. The man picked it up and handed it to Bella. Bella took hold of the small card and looked at it. It was her new ID card. She cringed when she saw that even sitting down she managed to ruin an ID picture. Apparently the flash hadn't indicated a completed picture and her ID had a picture of her mid blink. "Thanks," she grumbled before leaving the room. Once she was out the door Alice quickly approached her.

"Ooooh, let me see, let me see," she said as the two stepped aside so the next person could get their picture taken. Bella sighed and held her ID card up.

"I look like I'm high," she grumbled. Alice looked at the picture and bit her lip to stifle a giggle.

"Oh no, no, you……look like you're deep in thought," Alice quickly said as they left the building.

"Yeah, whatever," Bella sighed, unconvinced as she pulled her wallet out of her bag and slipped the card into it before putting the wallet back in her bag. She shrugged. "Anyway, what's next?" She asked.

"We need to stop by the admissions office and pick up our schedules, and then do the whole…meal plan thingy," Alice stated. Bella nodded.

"Sounds about right," she sighed. Alice smiled.

"They've got some booths set up for info on school clubs, do you feel like skipping that and just exploring the city or something after we're done with our schedules and meal plans?" She asked. Bella smiled and nodded.

"Sure, sounds fun," she said. Alice gave a small squeal and linked their arms.

"Yay," she said.

Bella and Alice received their class schedule for the semester and were pleased to see they would be in the same history class. Well, Bella was pleased; Alice was one happy dance away from being ecstatic. They then went to the office next door to pick out their meal plans. Bella eyed the selection sheet that listed the different plans carefully as she tried to choose the plan that would cost the least amount of money.

After some back and forth between her parents it had been decided that Charlie would be covering Bella's tuition and housing expenses. Bella had no doubt that the reasoning behind that was two fold. Yes, there was the element of practicality in that by claiming Bella as his dependent, Charlie received a discount on the cost because he was a Washington state resident and as the Forks chief of police, was employed by the state. But, Bella was sure there was also a vindictive reasoning on the part of Renee, who had wanted Bella to go to school in Florida and didn't try to hide her distaste when Bella informed her she intended to stay in the state Renee herself had fled from many years ago. Because of Charlie covering Bella's education and housing, Renee begrudgingly agreed to cover the cost of whatever food plans the school offered. Bella decided that in order to avoid any grief from her darling mother, it was best not to press her luck by choosing one of the more pricey plans.

"Almost ready?" Alice asked as she circled her chosen plan on her selection sheet and handed it to the office worker. Bella quickly circled her selection and handed the form to the worker.

"Yup," she said. Alice grinned as her head bobbed in a tiny nod. The two exited the building and made their way back towards the dorms to drop off their schedules.

---

The girls spent most of the remainder of the day driving around Seattle in Bella's truck. Every time the ancient vehicle roared to life after they made a stop in one of the stores in town or otherwise showed its age, Bella cringed, wondering just how many winces and eye rolls Alice might be hiding. As it was, whenever Bella cast a look over to her friend, she always had the same pleasant smile on her face. Bella was slowly but surely starting to see that as much as she saw the differences in their respective families' tax brackets, Alice didn't seem to care. Though, Bella could see Alice knew they existed. Any time the two purchased things for the room, Alice would whip out her credit card before Bella had a chance to look through her wallet.

"You're going to have to let me pay for something eventually," Bella sighed after the third time it happened. "I'm not going to take advantage of you." Alice simply responded with a wide smile. After the fourth store it happened in, Bella was ready to knock the perky little pixie upside her head out of sheer annoyance. To this, Alice responded.

"Fine, how about we compromise?" Alice offered as they climbed into Bella's truck to continue driving. "You let me cover the groceries and…." Alice's voice trailed off as she tried to think of a fair trade. Bella rolled her eyes and started up the car.

"And?" Bella asked.

"Hang on, I'm thinking," Alice giggled. "Oh, okay, well," she said, shifting in her seat to face Bella. "Obviously, since you're the only one of us with a car-"

"I'm not lending you my car," Bella interrupted, laughing at how ludicrous that was. Alice huffed and shook her head.

"Hi, I'm from New York City, I don't have a license," she said. Bella chuckled.

"Your dad and brother have licenses," Bella pointed out.

"My dad grew up in Who-Struck-Where, New Jersey, of course he had to learn how to drive, and Emmett sequestered himself in Indiana, same thing," Alice said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway," she continued, "as I was saying, since you're the only one of us with a car, it'll most likely get a lot of use,"

"Alice, get to the point," Bella sighed. Alice shrugged.

"I'm just saying that if we need groceries…..or if I want to check out the mall….I'd have to rely on my darling roommate," Alice stated, batting her eyelashes. Bella chortled.

"Or call a cab," Bella replied. Alice frowned.

"I'll remember that when you're living in that box someday," she grumbled with a hint of humor in her tone. Bella grinned.

"Alright, true, I guess the least I could do is a bit of driving Miss Alice, since you plan on letting me mooch off of you somewhere in our later years. What does that have to do with you hijacking the cost of groceries?" Alice shrugged.

"Well, as any good roommate I intended to chip in for gas, of course. _But_ since you're so stubborn, my guess is you'd probably fight me tooth and nail on that, so why don't we call it even?" Bella was tempted to shoot her a confused look but decided to keep her eyes on the road.

"What, you pay for our groceries and don't pay for gas?" Bella asked.

"Essentially," Alice replied.

"It still feels like I'd be taking advantage," Bella replied. "How about we amend this compromise?"

"I'm listening," Alice stated.

"I'll agree to you covering things we'd both be using like milk and other mutual essentials," Bella stated.

"Okay," Alice replied, happy she was getting her way but curious where Bella was going with her amendment.

"But, when it comes to things only I would be using, I do it myself," Bella said. "As in, if you ever even think of paying for my stuff, like shampoo or anything, I'll tackle you to the ground before you can even reach for your credit card." Alice threw her head back and laughed. Bella gave her a playful glare from the corner of her eye. "What? I've got about a good five inches on you; I could definitely take you down."

"Oh, I don't know," Alice giggled. "I'm a scrappy fighter. Just ask Emmett." Bella laughed and shook her head.

"So, do we have a deal?" Bella asked. Alice sighed.

"Alright, yes, we have a deal," Alice replied. Bella nodded.

"Good," she said.

After they stopped at a few more stores the girls headed back to the dorms. They were able to get all the items up to their room in just three trips. By then it was already getting close to six. The girls were too worn from the day to even bother seeing if the food service building was serving dinner and opted instead to look through the business brochure in Bella's orientation folder, since the one from Alice's had been left with Carlisle and Esme by accident, to find a place that would deliver pizza. The two decided to watch the rest of _Monty Python and the Holy Grail _as they ate their dinner sitting cross legged on the floor space between their beds, though the movie was more background noise as both girls were much more interested in continuing the chatting and playful banter they had engaged in throughout the day. The movie had just gotten to the part of The Holy Hand Grenade when Alice's cell phone went off. Alice, already full with three slices of pepperoni pizza, groaned as she sluggishly dragged herself to her purse which she had left by her bed. Bella laughed as she watched. Alice pulled the noisy item from her phone and read the display, giving a loud squeak.

"What is it?" Bella asked.

"It's Jasper!" Alice exclaimed. With newfound energy she sat up straight. "What do I do?" She asked, looking franticly between the phone in her hand and Bella.

"Um, answer it?" Bella asked.

"I can't talk to Jasper now! I just woofed down three slices of pizza!" Alice replied. Bella cast her friend a puzzled look before shaking her head.

"You know what, I'm not going to even ask what that has to do with anything," she muttered. She sighed and slid towards Alice. "It's not going to stop ringing until you answer. Unless you'd rather Jasper think you're ignoring his call," Bella said. Alice quickly shook her head and shoved the phone to Bella.

"You answer….and….and….tell him I'm in the shower or…um….something," Alice said.

"Wha…Alice…I don't even know this person," Bella protested.

"Please Bella!" Alice begged. Bella sighed.

"Alright," she stated. Alice leaned over Bella's lap for the remote and paused the movie as Bella answered the call.

"Alice Cullen's cell phone, this is Bella speaking, how may I help you?" Bella greeted. She was answered with a small chuckle.

"Didn't know Alice got herself an answering service," came the reply of a southern accented voice. It was smooth, though not as velvety smooth as Edward's voice.

"Oh yeah, but we prefer the term roommate," Bella replied.

"Understandable," Jasper chuckled. "Uh, is Alice around?" He asked. Bella covered the mouth piece and cast a look at Alice.

"He's asking for you," she whispered. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh," she hissed. Bella rolled her eyes and uncovered the mouth piece.

"I'm sorry; Alice is actually in the shower. Can she call you back later?"

"Oh," Jasper replied, disappointment evident in his tone. "Well...it's actually past midnight over here and…"

"Hold please," Bella interrupted. She covered the mouth piece with her hand and held the phone out to Alice. "Alice, the boy is calling you in the middle of the night, talk to him," she hissed. Alice shook her head.

"I can't," she fretted. "I don't know what to say," she added, shoving the phone back to Bella. Bella pushed it back towards her.

"It's just a simple conversation, not an address to congress. Talk to him!" Bella insisted.

"Tell him to email me," Alice said. "I can handle email." Bella sighed and brought the phone back to herself.

"Jasper?" Bella spoke.

"Yeah?"

"You know what, Alice just got back in from the shower, I'll put her on right no-OW!" Bella exclaimed as Alice's tiny hand slapped her arm. She glared at Alice. "What the heck is your problem?" She hissed.

"What the heck is whose problem?" She heard Jasper ask in her ear. Bella rolled her eyes.

"Not you," Bella spoke in the phone. She glared at Alice and pulled the phone from her ear, holding it out to Alice. Alice shook her head. Bella groaned.

'Talk to him!' she mouthed. Alice shook her head. Bella sighed and turned the phone back to herself. She studied the device for a moment before finding the speaker phone button and pressing it. She turned it back to Alice. 'Say something!' She mouthed. Alice eyed the phone warily.

"Hello?" Jasper's voice rang out, filling the room with his confused Texas drawl. Alice bit her lip as she seemed to melt the second the voice hit her ears. "Is anyone there?" Jasper asked.

"Um….hi…Jasper…." Alice finally squeaked out.

"Hey," Jasper said, the smile evident in his voice. "How are you?" He asked. Alice's cheeks blushed as his tone seemed to grow softer.

"I'm alright," she said. "How are you?" She asked.

"Good," Jasper chuckled. There was a moment of silence. Bella held back a sigh as she waited for Alice to take the phone. "So…uh….your brother talked to me," Jasper finally said.

"Oh?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Jasper replied. "He said you thought it'd be a good idea if he and I did our end of term music composition together." Alice shyly nibbled on her lip.

"Well….I….just thought it'd be…..practical….you know, because you guys spend a lot of time together as it is…..so…..you know?" Alice muttered nervously.

"Right," Jasper said. "Yeah, that's practical," he said.

"So…are you….um….still working with Maria?" Alice asked, almost afraid of what his answer would be.

"No," Jasper replied. Alice let out a small relieved sigh as a bright smile came to her lips. "I….I thought….your idea…..was the most practical…." Jasper said, though some hidden meaning could be heard.

"Oh, good….Well, I mean….good that….you and Edward get to work together," Alice said.

"Mm," Jasper responded before silence once again fell on them. "Alice, honey?" Jasper spoke, his voice growing even softer. Alice's eyes drifted shut and she slumped back against the edge of her bed. Bella rolled her eyes and edged the phone closer to her.

"Yes, Jasper?" Alice asked, though it sounded more like a purr from a content kitten.

"I…just wanted you to know…when I was working with Maria….that's it, I was just working with her because we were paired together in class." Alice let out a small shaky breath.

"Oh," she said.

"I…wouldn't want you to think I…." The sound of him giving a small cough and clearing his throat filled the air. "What I mean is…..well….we was just doin' school work," he mumbled.

"Mmhm," Alice replied. Jasper cleared his throat again.

"Well…I guess I should….be heading off to bed," he said, his voice returning to its normal level.

"Uh huh," Alice replied, still caught in the throes of euphoria his simple endearment had caused.

"Have fun on your first day of classes tomorrow," Jasper said. Bella nudged Alice's leg, indicating she should probably say some actual words.

"Uh, thanks," Alice said. "I guess I'll….talk to you….some other time," Alice murmured.

"I'll hold you to that, darlin'," Jasper replied, his grin shining through loud and clear in his tone. Alice's body seemed to jerk as she quickly buried her face in the side of her bed to muffle the small squeak that flew out of her mouth. "Bye," they heard Jasper say before the line went dead. Bella set the phone down beside Alice, who was busy sliding down into a lying position on the floor, a dreamy smile on her face.

"He can hold me to anything, anytime," she murmured. Bella snickered.

"Okay then," Bella abruptly said, "and on _that_ note, I'm going to dispose of the pizza box and find some ice for my arm since _someone's _heavy handed." Alice blinked and cast a look at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said. "I panicked." Bella waved a dismissive hand.

"It's alright," she said. "Just enjoy your stay on cloud nine," Bella stated as she stood up to take the pizza box out to the dumpster. Alice's face broke out into a wide grin as giddy giggles slipped out of her mouth.

"I intend to," Alice replied. Bella chuckled, lovingly rolling her eyes at her friend's school girl antics as she left the room.

------

**AN: Holy extended chapter, Batman! We've got ourselves over 20 pages here!**

**Anyway, sorry for the sort of out of character-ness I've got here. I'm actually not totally happy with this chapter….I feel like in my desire to get all of orientation day covered here I just did some really bad rushing through things. I just figured I'd give you guys more than usual since I made you all wait longer than I meant to.**

**Oh, yeah, that leads me to another thing. I'm going to stop making promises about when the next time I update is, because as we can see I do a horrible job of keeping said promises. I'm not saying it'll be weeks until I update again but I've just seen that stating an exact deadline just opens the door for demands on when the update will be up in the form of reviews when I've missed said deadlines.**

**With that said, I'm going to TRY to get the next chapter up before the end of the year. I can't promise it'll definitely be up but I'll try. **

**Also—if by chance there happens to be any members of the Tri Sigma sorority reading this…please know I have nothing against your sorority. I knew two Tri Sigs and they were quite nice and considered them pretty good friends. So, I have nothing against the Tri Sig sorority. I just wanted to stick a sorority in here and I could only think of two sororities off the top of my head---Tri Sigma and Alpha Kappa Alpha…….and since Alpha Kappa Alpha is an African American sorority, I figured that wouldn't work, haha.**

**Now, if there's any TKE guys reading this……..yeah, sorry, all offense is intended, haha. I'm not a huge fan of TKE boys. I went to one of their parties back when I was a pseudo-freshmen (as in while I was in a summer program before start of freshmen year) and it was not a fun time had. The guys were sorta kinda a bunch of tools.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey all sorry for not having this up before the end of '08 like I said I would, just got busy with some things.**

**Anyway, wanted to take a moment to thank you all so much for your reviews. You guys are awesome. Especially those of you who've complimented my writing. I love to write and hope to some day have something of mine published [preferably this novel/series I've been cooking up for some time now, but I'm no picky, haha], so yeah, thanks so much you guys. The ego boost makes me all sorts of happy. And hey, happy fan fic writers produce more updates, so yay! Haha.**

**Also, I've been thinking about how to treat the goings on in England in this story. I've put up a little poll on my profile so please go vote. Basically, I'm wondering if I should write a separate story. And if so, should it be a prequel focusing on what went on while Alice was in England, or more so a companion piece that covers how the school year is going with the guys (so, basically College Daze: England Edition). Or if I should I just stick some things in here (flashbacks, alternate chapters between Seattle and England) and keep everything under one story. **

**So, yeah, go on and vote so I know what you the readers want. Of course, just so you know, if there is a separate story it'll take some time since it'd have to be after Alice's secret is reveled here………which, actually isn't too far away from now, so it wouldn't take **_**too **_**long, I'm just saying it wouldn't pop up right away. I think I'll keep the voting up for a few weeks and see what you guys think.**

**Anyway, on to the story!**

**-----**

The semester began the following day. Alice and Bella both had History as their first class on Mondays at 9:30, which meant that once again Alice was poking Bella's nose to wake her, this time at 7am. Though Bella was sorely tempted to tell her off and settle for having her breakfast consist of the cereal they had bought the night before, she figured she'd give Alice a pass given that it was the first day of school.

Much like the day before, Alice was already showered and dressed by the time she woke Bella up. They exchanged morning pleasantries before Bella left the room for her "human moment", which caused Alice to giggle. After Bella returned the two left for breakfast. The selection in the dining hall was much like the day before, with the addition of oatmeal being an option as it was situated on the heated counter along with the eggs and other hot food items. Bella was happy to see that Alice had taken their previous breakfast to heart as she watched as Alice ordered herself two scoop of eggs, a piece of French toast, and two strips of bacon. Bella's ordered mirrored her roommates and the two each grabbed their servings of juice and sat down. The two were enjoying their meal together when Rosalie appeared, much like the day before.

"Hey," she said, almost hesitantly. She eyed Alice carefully as the shorter girl met her gaze, slowly chewing on a piece of her French toast. "Mind if I join you guys?" She asked. Bella cast a look over to Alice to take a cue from her. Though she herself had no problem with Rosalie joining them, she wasn't sure where Alice stood on the matter. Alice swallowed the food in her mouth and briefly looked at Bella, realizing that she was leaving the decision up to her. Alice brought her eyes back to Rosalie and gave her a small smile.

"Sure," she said. Rosalie seemed to let out a tense breath she had been holding and sat down.

"Thanks," she said as she picked up her spoon and poked at the bowl of oatmeal on her tray. The trio fell into a brief silence as they ate their food. Bella's eyes occasionally shifted between Rosalie and Alice, wondering if at any moment some confrontation would commence and if she'd have to referee. After a moment Rosalie seemed to grow tired of the silence. She sighed and set her spoon down on the edge of her bowl. "Alice," she spoke, causing the short haired girl to look up at her from her eggs, "I'm really sorry about the ambush yesterday. Honestly, I didn't think Vera would single you out like that."

"What did you think she would do?" Alice curiously asked as she scooped some eggs into her mouth. Rosalie shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I thought maybe she'd let you come to us, you know? Like, if you showed up to the pledge party then great, she'd talk to you. But I had no idea she'd come at you like she did yesterday." Rosalie paused and looked at Bella. "And I really didn't think she'd act like you weren't even there, I'm sorry for that." Bella shrugged.

"It's okay," she said. Alice narrowed her eyes at Rosalie for a moment.

"How come you didn't mention being a Sigma before?" She asked. Rosalie brought her gaze back to Alice and gave a sheepish shrug.

"I guess I didn't want to be known as just some sorority girl," she replied. Alice nodded but still seemed wary about her.

"Yeah," she said. She chewed on her lip for a moment. "It just feels like you purposely lied about it…" She murmured, giving a one shoulder shrug. Rosalie sighed.

"Alice I'm sorry, I never meant for it to be like that. It just never came up….and I didn't want to bring it up and come off as assuming like Vera was yesterday." Alice looked at her and nodded again.

"Yeah, I guess if you did mention it…it would've come off like…..recruiting or something," she murmured.

"And if you weren't at all interested in pledging, I didn't want you to think…you know, things would be weird…..with me being your RA……and next-dorm neighbor and all that." Alice nodded.

"Will things be weird?" Alice asked, essentially replying to the unasked question as to if she planned to pledge the sorority.

"Not if you don't want them to be," Rosalie replied. She gave Alice a tentative smile. "I usually have 'sorority girl mode' on the off switch as much as I can, to be honest. So, you'll just be seeing plain ole Rosie around." Alice nodded. She looked down at the sterling silver watch on her tiny wrist before looking over at Bella.

"We should head to class," she said. Rosalie frowned and looked down at her oatmeal. Bella cast a look over to her. She wished she could say something but she had no idea what to say in this situation. She looked at her own black Casio watch and saw that Alice was right. She gave a short nod.

"Okay," she said, slinging her school bag across her shoulder and gripping her tray to dispose of it. Alice did the same as the two stood up and turned away from the table. Alice took one step before turning back to Rosalie. Bella watched her carefully, wondering if she should expect biting words to come out of her little friend's mouth.

"Rosalie?" Alice spoke. Rosalie looked up at her with curious expectation. Alice gave her a small smile. "Bella and I were going to do some….first day of classes de-stressing tonight…..nothing huge, just hanging out, maybe break into my stash of facial stuff, mani-pedis……Anyway, since you're sort of our unofficial roommate, do you want to come by our room and join in the fun?" Rosalie blinked as she took in Alice's offer before giving her a wide smile.

"Yeah, that sounds really great, thanks," she said. Alice's smile grew.

"Great," she said, expressing how pleased she was with Rosalie's acquiesce by ending the word with a small squeaking inflection and a happy shrug of her shoulders. "We'll see you then," she grinned before turning around and walking over to dispose of her tray. Bella gave Rosalie a parting nod and smile before following her roommate. Once both girls dumped their trays they walked to class, arm in arm.

"I didn't know we were planning anything for tonight," Bella pointed out to Alice as they walked. Alice tilted her head to give Bella a smile.

"Well, okay I guess I was planning it and figured you wouldn't mind it. Who'd pass up a night of girly fun?" She asked. Bella chuckled.

"Ah, I see," Bella said. She shrugged. Granted, if left to her own devices she wouldn't engage in anything so stereotypically girly but, like many things that had gone on in her new friendship with Alice, she couldn't say no. It actually didn't sound too terrible. "I guess it could be fun," she said. Alice gave an elated squeal.

"Yay," she said, briefly leaning her head on Bella's shoulder. Bella smiled.

"So, everything's okay with you and Rosalie?" Bella asked. Alice sighed.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging. "I guess I was just…." Her voice trailed off as a tiny frown marred her features. Bella looked at her from the corner of her eye. She could feel Alice going into another one of her uncharacteristic moments of quiet. Even though they'd only been friends for a few days, Bella was beginning to sense when whatever clouded secret Alice was keeping to herself was entering the atmosphere. Her bubbly nature would contort into something different; something Bella could tell wasn't supposed to be there. She seemed almost morose in those brief moments. Like all other times the cloud would appear, with a shrug of Alice's small shoulders it was forced away and she slowly returned to her former self. "I just don't like liars…or, you know….misrepresentations," she said, attempting to be flippant but Bella could tell there was something more to her words. Many people didn't appreciate dishonesty, but there seemed to be more than just the normal desire to know what was going on. Bella thoughtfully nodded.

"Well, Alice Cullen, I promise to never lie to you," she swore, smiling as they neared the building their class would be in. Alice beamed up at Bella, giving her a smile that displayed most if not all of her pearly white teeth. Alice was pleased with Bella's promise. Bella wasn't sure if it was because she swore her honesty, or because in swearing it she was telling Alice she hoped Alice liked her. Either way, she was glad her promise had garnered such a reaction.

The history class was pretty simple and cut and dry as their professor handed out the semester's syllabus and went into a brief overview of what the class would cover. He said the grades would be based on weekly quizzes on the readings from the textbook they were all required to purchase, one midterm exam, and lastly a final paper on a topic of each student's choosing and a final exam. Bella noticed Alice frowning and furrowing her brow as the professor spoke. After the professor finished going over the basics he dismissed the class earlier than usual, stating he'd rather not overload everyone on the first day. The class, satisfied with this, came to life as they all stood up and gathered their things. Alice gave a tiny whine as she got up.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked as she and Alice left the room.

"It just…sounds so hard," she said with a small pout. "A quiz every week? A final exam _and _paper?" She gave a few whining sounds and slumped her head against Bella's shoulder. Bella affectionately rested her head on top of Alice's for a moment. "I'm tempted to just go and drop this class," Alice said before tilting her head so her eyes locked with Bella's, "but then we wouldn't have any classes together," she said with a more definitive pout. Bella smiled.

"You do realize that we live together and even if we don't have any classes together we'll see each other every day, right?" Bella teased. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I like having at least one class together, you know, the whole having something in common and tackling studying together," Alice replied. Bella nodded.

"Okay, then don't drop the class," Bella reasoned. Alice's pout returned as she gave a tiny groan.

"But I just know I'm going to fail the class. I know nothing about history," she fretted. Bella heaved and exaggerated sigh.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to help you then," she said, giving Alice a smile to show her she didn't see this as a bad thing at all. Alice's eyes lit up.

"You'll help me?" She asked. Bella nodded.

"Yeah….I mean, if we're 'tackling studying together', I might as well, right?" She asked. Alice grinned.

"You're the best, Bella," she said, wrapping her arms around Bella in a quick tight hug. Bella chuckled. Once Alice released her, all her worries were gone as she went back to happily chatting as they walked. "So, how many more classes do you have today?" Alice asked.

"Two," Bella replied, "Intro to sociology and British Literature," she said. "You?"

"Also two," Alice said. "Algebra and French. Do you want to meet up and shop for textbooks together?" Alice asked. Bella pursed her lips for a moment, making a mental note to place a certain phone call or two in regards to buying books.

"Sure," Bella said. "When's your last class?"

"French goes on 'till four," Alice said. Bella nodded.

"Well, Brit lit ends at two, how about I meet you at the language building and we head to the store from there?"

"Great!" Alice smiled. Bella chuckled. The two parted ways to go to their separate classes. The rest of Bella's classes for the day were relatively easy much like the first, which she appreciated. Before she knew it, it was already two and she was heading back to her room for the day. She took advantage of the time she had on her own to place a few calls and check her email. When she got into her room she turned on her lap top and signed into her email account. There already were a few emails. One was from Angela, one was from Jacob, and three were from her mother. Bella sighed and decided to make her phone calls before answering emails. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and dialed the familiar number of the Forks police department. After a few rings she heard the other end of the line pick up.

"Chief Swan," came the gruff greeting from her father. Bella felt her lips twitch in an involuntary smile at the sound of his voice. She'd gotten so used to speaking to him, even if it was just exchanging pleasantries in the morning or over dinner, on a daily basis for the last year and a half. She was surprised to see how much she had missed hearing his voice after not hearing it for just few days.

"Hi dad," she replied. She heard her father have a brief intake of breath.

"Hey Bells," he said, his tone lighter. Bella wondered if he had just experienced the same quick flash of joy as she had. She could almost hear the smile in his voice. "How's it going, kiddo?" He asked.

"Great," Bella said. "I just had my first three classes-"

"All pretty cake, I bet," he chuckled. Bella couldn't help laugh as her father gave the blatant praise to her intelligence.

"I guess," she said.

"That's great," Charlie replied. "Make any friends yet?" He asked. Bella nodded before rolling her eyes to herself as she realized she needed to give a vocal reply.

"Yeah," she said. "My roommate's pretty great and our RA seems nice," she replied.

"That's great, Bells," Charlie replied.

"How's everything going in Forks?" Bella asked.

"Same stuff, different day," Charlie said, Bella could practically hear him shrugging. "Sue Clearwater seems to have gotten it in her head that now that you're up at school I'm in need of a new source for home cooked meals," he said. "She came by last night and made it pretty clear she expects me to stop by for dinner tonight." Bella chuckled. She had no doubt Sue Clearwater would be making sure her father was well fed. After the passing of Henry Clearwater that past winter, Charlie had taken it upon himself to check on Sue and her children Seth and Leah. Henry had been a close friend of Charlie's and he had felt it only right to look after the family. By the time summer rolled around, the family seemed to get back on their feet and Sue seemed to go into planning mode the second everyone on the reservation heard about Bella going away for school. Bella was pretty sure it wasn't just Sue returning the favor of Charlie looking in on her and her children, and wondered how long it would be until she'd have to see Seth and Leah as stepsiblings. She had no problem with having Seth as a possible future stepbrother, he was a great kid, but Leah and her cold attitude was another story. She figured Sue and Charlie would probably wait a long time to even admit they liked each other, out of respect for Henry, so Bella probably had a long while to get used to seeing Leah as family.

"Oh, how in the world could she get the idea that you wouldn't take care of yourself?" Bella lightly teased. Her father simply gave a humph in response.

"Anyway, what else is up? Did you get your school books yet?" He asked. Bella bit her lip nervously; leave it to Charlie to get to the point.

"Um, actually….that's why I'm calling," she said.

"Oh, I thought you were just checking in with dear old dad," Charlie muttered. Bella winced.

"Well…I…of course I'm checking in, I-"

"Bella, I was joking," Charlie dryly cut in. Bella rolled her eyes at the fact it wasn't like she'd know that, given that Charlie didn't exactly spout out the jokes on an every day basis. "What's up?" He asked.

"Well….I….was just wondering…..I mean, if it's a problem I can ask mom…but…." She sighed. "Money…" she lamely muttered. Charlie was quiet for a moment. Bella sighed, wincing again. "I mean-"

"I take it you didn't check your account," he said, referring to the bank account her father had helped her set up back when she first got her job working at the store Mike's parents ran. She had used it as a place to store her paychecks until she needed to use the money for gas and other essentials. Even with the bonus she had gotten with her last check, a graduation gift from the Newtons, the account wasn't exactly overflowing.

"My account?" Bella asked, confused.

"Bells, I bought a few hundred in there this morning," he said, his voice going into that same hesitant hopeful tone, much like it had been when he told her he bought the truck for her when she first arrived to Washington.

"....You did?" Bella asked, completely bewildered.

"Well of course I did," he replied. "You think I'd send you off to college with nothing?"

"I….Dad, wow….yo…you didn't have to,"

"Bells, I'm your dad. I had to make sure you had some cash available for emergencies or any things you might need," he firmly stated. "I figured I'd put a little money in once a week until you get a job….That is if you still want to get a job right now. I mean, if you want to take this semester to settle into college, that's okay." Bella smiled. "School's main priority, you know that."

"Thanks dad," Bella softly said. "I really appreciate it."

"It's no big deal," he sheepishly muttered. Bella chuckled.

"Yeah, but…still," she said. "Thanks a lot," she said. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I figured I'd get a job here on campus, so it'll work with my schedule and everything."

"Uh huh," Charlie replied. "Okay, but if it starts being too much and it affects your grades, you tell me, okay?" Bella smiled.

"Yeah, got it," she said. Charlie and Bella spoke for a few more minutes before Bella figured she'd leave him to get back to work. She told him to say hello to their friends in La Push for her and promised she'd call him when she got a job. Once Bella got off the phone with her father she turned to face her computer with a sigh, preparing herself to address the emails in her mailbox. She figured she'd deal with her mother now and get back to Angela and Jacob later. Renee's emails would only multiply if not dealt with in a timely fashion.

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**AN: Sorry for such a short chapter guys. I really wanted this chapter to cover the first few days of classes but I figured I needed to get this up now since I'd made you all wait, lol. Plus the fact I'll most likely not be able to get on the computer "tomorrow" (or, later today since it is now 4:30am, haha) since my mother needs to use it for most of the day. I'll probably be able to get on late in the evening and get a start to the chapter. If so, the update will probably be up by Tuesday or Wednesday (I'm planning on spouting out a long chapter, so it'll take a while haha).**

**Anyway, don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile and let me know what you all think about the England stuff. **


	9. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sorry guys, this is not a chapter. I apologize for teasing you in such a way. I've tried to avoid doing just author's note containing updates because, yeah, as a reader, I hate those so I'm not going to be someone who does them….. But….I'm sorry, it has to be done.

I just got a message from a reader that I feel needs a response, and since other people have been messaging me demanding updates, I think making my response open to everyone is the most efficient thing to do.

Okay guys, I am REALLY grateful for all the reviews and everything. Believe me, I am. Don't for a second think that I don't value your readership.

So, with that said….Here's the deal, I have been working on the next chapter. I've been trying to make it as good as it can be. Unfortunately, that takes a lot of time.....a lot of time that, right now, I can't commit to the story just for the sake of faster updates

I have school, life, and original writing projects. I try to even out my time but, to be totally honest, those aforementioned things take some priority. My last updates came about while I was on break and could spend a lot of time on fanfics. I'm not on break anymore so I can't do that. And, if I am going to update with more than just one chapter at a time, as some people have "suggested" everyone wants, that's going to take even more time.

I'm not going to just spew out chapters I don't feel are good just to have speedy updates. I'd much rather take the time to produce something good. Sure it takes more time but I believe the quality will please you guys more than a constant slew of sub par chapters.

I'm sorry for coming off curt in this note. The message that sort of….brought on….this note kind of ticked me off in how inconsiderate I felt it was. I'm not going to name names or anything, so please don't ask. I needed to let you guys know what's going on, and vent a little bit, and I have, so that's it.

I can't promise I'll have the next update up soon, because I really don't know if that's possible. The only thing I can promise is that I'll TRY (try, as in make the most effort possible, but if it in fact doesn't happen, please don't hold it against me and use it as a reason to bitch me out via PMs) to have a chapter up sometime before the end of this month.

Again, I apologize for my bitchiness. Along with all the things going on in life, I also just quit smoking a week ago….so yeah, not the most even tempered thing at times (seriously, just ask my brother).

Anyway, thanks again to all of you who've reviewed and expressed their love for COLLEGE DAZE. Please continue to be patient with me, I promise you won't regret it.

Also, if you haven't done so already, go on and vote in the poll in my profile. It's already pretty clear where the majority of opinion resides on how to deal with the England element, but every vote counts. :-D


	10. Sorry to get hopes up, just another AN

Hey all you lovely patient readers. I wanted to apologize for taking so long to churn out the next chapter.

I had made some pretty decent headway into writing the chapter but unfortunately, my laptop has been acting hinky for the last few weeks. I'm hoping to be able to get it fixed soon, but if I haven't been able to get around to it by……hmmm…..I'll say a month from now…….I'll recreate it as best I can and post it up. If I can get into the document before then, of course I'll post it ASAP.

So, if by May 20th you haven't seen anything from me, you are all welcomed to harass and harangue me untill your hearts' content, haha.

Once I finish off the semester, I promise I'll be a better chapter provider. :)


	11. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks so much for the reviews and patient understanding guys. It really means a lot to me to have a lot of you being cool about the long time between updates. Been dealing with a little bit of writer's block, but am doing my best to power through it.**

**Also, I recently found out this story was nominated for The Indie Twific Awards for Best Characterization (non Edward/Bella) WIP category. To whomever nominated it, thanks so much! It warms my heart to know I've got lovely and kind readers who are so loyal and gracious even though I've been pretty neglectful to you guys these past few months. **

**Anyway, if you are interested in checking out the award, the website is http:// theindietwificawards [dot] com**

**Soooo, with all that said, I bring you the latest chapter of College Daze.**

**---**

Bella opened each of her mother's emails. She figured they'd be the general updates of her and Phil's lives and asking for updates from Bella, with the later two emails demanding to know why Bella had yet to respond. Even still, she figured it'd be a good idea to read the emails first in case there were any things she needed to provide a specific response to. As it was, the emails were predictable and she was able to type up a response fairly quickly.

She feigned interest in her mother's latest hobby, African tribal dancing, offered her congratulations on Phil raising his batting average, and gave an overview of college so far. She gave a bit more elaboration than what she'd given to Charlie, only for the simple fact that Renee was a bit more intrusive than Charlie could ever be and would've insisted on knowing more in her next email. She wrote about the classes she had so far and hanging out with her nice roommate, Alice. She didn't write about the things she and Alice had talked about, or her feelings that Alice was hiding something. It wasn't her mother's place to know. Bella simply stated that she was getting along very well with her roommate and the two were becoming fast friends. After ending the email with a half hearted apology about not responding sooner, citing getting caught in the distraction the first few days of college provided as her excuse, she sent off the email.

Bella checked her watch and saw she had forty five minutes until she had to meet Alice. She decided to head over to the language building then. Opting to not carrying around her large school bag, Bella grabbed her denim bag and transferred her wallet to it before tossing in her cell phone, keys and a book to read while she waited for Alice. It was an uncharacteristically nice day outside and she didn't mind sitting on one of the benches outside the language building while she read.

Bella leisurely walked to the building and found an empty bench a few feet in front of the door. She settled down on the bench and pulled her book out. She opened it up and began to read for the remaining half hour until Alice's class was over. Ten minutes into her reading she heard people coming out of the building. The air was filled with chatter and footsteps as people passed by her. Bella checked her watch and saw there was still twenty minutes left so she continued reading. She heard some footsteps pass her but paid them no mind. At one point one pair of footsteps came to the bench and plopped down beside her. Bella didn't think much of it and continued reading. She heard what sounded like a carefully muffled giggle beside her but ignored it. For all she knew some dippy co-ed just got a cutesy text message from her main squeeze. Bella wasn't all that interested or curious to find out and simply turned the page in her book, her eye fell on her watch as she flipped the page and saw she still had fifteen minutes of waiting.

As Bella continued to read she felt more than heard, the person on the other side of the bench shift closer to her. Probably making room for some friend to sit down, Bella reasoned as she continued on reading. The person shifted until their hip bumped into Bella's. Bella sighed, rolling her eyes. She closed her book, sliding her thumb in it to momentarily hold her place, and looked up ready to address this person who obviously had no regard for personal space. She opened her mouth only to have her breath catch in her throat as she was met with Alice's grinning face. Bella blinked and gave her an odd look.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Alice giggled.

"Watching you read," she replied flippantly. Bella rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I got that. Why are you watching me read?" She asked. Alice chuckled and shrugged.

"It's funny. You're just like….so shut off from the world. It kind of reminds me of Edward," she said with a smile. Bella frowned slightly at being compared to Alice's snobbish brother but decided to let it slide. "I was actually wondering how long it'd take for you to notice I was here." Bella furrowed her brows and shook her head.

"You're a strange little person," she commented as she dog-eared the page she'd left off in her book and slipped it back into her bag. She looked back at her friend. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Isn't there like ten minutes left of your class?" She asked.

"We were let out early since it's the first day," she said. Bella nodded. It seemed like a lot of professors had adopted the "overview, hand out syllabus, dismissal" lesson plan for the day. "So, ready to embark on some shopping?" Alice asked, a bright smile lighting her already iridescent aura. Bella smiled.

"You're excited about going to the campus bookstore?" She asked. Alice giggled and shrugged.

"Shopping is always exciting," she said as the two rose to their feet and made their way in the direction of the bookstore, "even if it's just for school necessities," she concluded. Bella laughed out loud. She couldn't help but notice how free she felt with Alice. Not to say she never laughed with her other friends, actually, on the contrary, she always found herself laughing freely with Jacob. But female friends were a different story.

Even with her closeness with Angela, she realized that a part of her was sometimes on guard, wondering if Angela's association with Jessica and Lauren caused anything for Bella to be careful over. She knew Angela was nothing like Jessica and Lauren but it was sometimes hard not to subconsciously group her with the other girls she'd met in Forks High and wonder if they all had something in common. Alice was different.

Bella wasn't sure what about Alice made her different, but she could feel it. She didn't know if it was the fact that Alice wasn't from Forks, if it was the wonder and magic that seemed to surround this pixie like girl and her impressive New York life, or if it was something else; something intangible that could not be named. A part of Bella felt that this secret of Alice's, whatever it was, made her unlike girls like Lauren and Jessica. Not to mention it lit up an intense sense of protection inside of Bella whenever she saw Alice sinking into the memories of whatever this secret of hers was.

The two girls found themselves in the crowded campus bookstore in no time. It was clear everyone wanted to get their books right away as well. Under any other circumstance, both girls would've found the need to constantly say "excuse me" while shuffling through the aisles or the long lines to the registers to be similar to what hell must've been like, but the girls endured it. It didn't hurt that they were together. Standing together in the long line and having people bump into their shoulders as they squeezed past them felt like nothing as they conversed. It even made them not think about the heavy shopping baskets hanging from their arms.

Bella was able to find used and therefore less expensive copies of all her books, save for one of the textbooks she needed for English, as it was a just released edition. She had made sure that all the used books weren't too worn out or damaged, which required in depth searching in the History texts. One copy she picked up had previously belonged to someone who'd gone a little too highlighter happy, with whole pages being marked. Bella knew this would've been too distracting when she tried to read and make her own notes. She then found a book that had belonged to an immature student who doodled inappropriate caricatures in the margins (well endowed stick figures? Was this person really a college student?) and made stupid comments under some of the images. She was finally able to find a used book that had previously belonged to a more responsible person who had made more conservative notes and underlined a few passages, all in pencil and easily erasable.

Alice had sprung for new copies in all her texts, down to the brand spanking new plastic wrap on all of them. As she picked up her books, Alice commented she liked being the first to open up these books. She giggled and said "yeah, I'm just weird like that". Bella smiled. She felt touched at Alice's attempt to brush off the obvious difference in their financial status and how one could splurge on brand new books while the other could not. Anyone else would've ignored it or even flaunt it—Bella was sure someone like Lauren would take pleasure in such an act—but Alice was quick to portray how meaningless it was.

After the two of them paid for their books, they trudged back to their dorm, heavy bags in tow. When they reached the door of their building they ran into Rosalie who was just getting back from her last class. She insisted on helping the girls with their things, taking one of Alice's bags in one hand and the smaller of Bella's bags in the other. The three girls casually conversed about their day as they made their way up the stairs. Once they reached their floor Alice begged Rosalie to come in so they could get a start on their girl's night. Rosalie declined, saying she wanted to get some reading done first, but that she'd be back in an hour or two. Alice replied with an exaggerated sigh, saying "oh, fine" with a grin to show she was just playing with her blonde friend.

Bella and Alice spent their time organizing their books into their spaces and starting on some reading of their own. Just as Bella was about to crack open her English text, her phone rang. She gave Alice a quick apology about any disturbance to her studying this might have caused, which Alice replied with a dismissive wave, before answering her phone.

"Hello?" Bella said, flipping open the device.

"Huh, so Collegian Bells sounds a lot like regular old Bells," came the response. Bella grinned.

"Hey Jacob," she replied. "Didn't realize college life was supposed to change me so quickly," she said. This was met with a quick laugh from Jacob.

"Well, you never know," he said. "So, how's life in Seattle so far?" He asked. "Missing good old Forks….or surrounding areas…yet?" He asked. Bella chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I'm really missing Port Angeles," she replied.

"So not what I meant," Jacob grumbled. Bella laughed.

"Anyway, how are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm alright," he replied. The two spent the next few minutes talking, with Bella giving a brief report of school and mentioning her new friends, which led to Alice beaming at the mention of her name, and Jacob talking about going to First Beach with his friends. Bella giggled furiously when Jacob told her about Claire, one of the little girls in La Push and Emily Young's niece, throwing little rocks at Quil, who had become the little one's protector/babysitter/surrogate big brother, since the girl's family was often too busy to spend time with her.

"I hope Quil's okay," Bella chuckled. Jacob laughed.

"I think his ego was more bruised than his head over being taken down by a three year old."

"How are the wedding plans going by the way?" Bella asked, which was met with a groan from Jacob. Sam, one of the boys from the reservation, was finally getting married to his fiancée Emily. There was some talk about it becoming a double wedding as Paul had proposed to Jacob's older sister, Rachel, over the summer. It all came down to whether or not the newly engaged couple wanted a long engagement or a speedy one.

"Well, let's see," Jacob sighed. "All the girls are flocking around Em to help with things,"

"Even Leah?" Bella asked, skeptically.

"Ha, funny," Jacob remarked. Bella sighed. Leah was Emily's cousin, not to mention Sam's previous girlfriend. Bella wasn't sure what had happened exactly, since most of it had gone on before she had come to Forks, but it seemed like Sam and Leah were complete high school sweethearts. Many even thought Sam would propose to her someday, and not Emily, but something happened to change their plans.

Emily had been in a drunk driving accident that left her horribly scarred and depressed. Leah, wanting to be there for her cousin, spent a lot of time with her as she recovered and even encouraged Sam to spend time with her and try to set her up with one of the other boys in La Push to prove to Emily that though her face was scarred, she was still the same beautiful Emily she had been before the accident. This plan, unfortunately for Leah, worked a little too well. Sam himself saw the beauty in Emily, and as much as he tried to stay loyal to Leah, he couldn't deny the pull he felt to Emily. He left Leah for Emily and the two were soon engaged. The hurt Leah felt over this could be seen all throughout the reservation, mainly because Leah didn't let the happy couple, or anyone else for that matter, forget the betrayal inflicted upon her.

"Leah's taken to hanging around here most of the time and bitching to yours truly," Jacob said.

"Jake," Bella reprimanded.

"Yeah, yeah," Jacob sighed. "And don't even get me started on how Emily making Rach her maid of honor affected things."

"Ah, so no double wedding, I take it?" Bella asked. Jacob laughed.

"Yeah, as if dad would let Paul into the family that easily or quickly," he replied. Bella chuckled. "You're going to be here for the festivities, right?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, it's during my spring break," Bella replied. "Why?" Jacob was quiet for a moment. "Jake?"

"Well….I was thinking maybe you'd be my date," Jacob replied. Bella's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Alice caught Bella's change in expression and sent her a quiet 'what's wrong?'.

"Oh," Bella breathed out after a moment. "Um…Jake…I…"

"Come on, Bells," Jacob sighed. "Even Quil's got a date. Don't make me be the only stag there," he pleaded.

"Quil's got a date? Who? Don't tell me Cla-"

"God, no!" Jacob laughed. "What do you think this is, La Pedophilia Push?" He asked. "Boy's got himself a sweet deal though---one of Emily's other cousin's fallen for the, and I quote, sweet guy spending all his time with little Claire." Bella laughed. "So, come on…It seems like all the girls are getting grabbed up early."

"Well, there's always Le-"

"Bella, come on!" Jacob begged. Bella sighed.

"Fine," she said. "I guess….if you can't find anyone else to go with…..okay."

"Okay?" Jacob asked, making sure he heard her correctly. "Okay? Yes! Bells, I promise, you won't regret this, I-"

"As friends, Jacob," Bella reminded him. That seemed to quickly mute his celebration. Bella sighed. "Ja-"

"That's cool," he quickly said, forcing his previous excitement back in his voice. "I'm just glad I won't be set up with one of the guys' creepy cousins or something." Bella rolled her eyes.

"Glad I could help," she said. "Listen Jake, I've got to study. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sounds good," Jacob said. The two said their goodbyes and hung up. Bella groaned and fell back in her bed, covering her eyes with her forearm.

"Everything okay?" Alice asked as she crawled off her bed and sat down on the floor beside Bella's bed. Bella nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "Just some stuff back home."

"I heard," Alice said. "Not that I was eavesdropping, just…"

"It's okay," Bella said, pulling her arm off her eyes and giving her friend and understanding look.

"So, my guess is, this guy Jacob isn't the-"

"Jasper to my Alice?" Bella teased, which caused Alice to blush and look away. "Don't get me wrong, Jacob's a great guy and we're close….but he's kind of young," she said. Alice nodded.

"Yeah, I get it," Alice replied. She gave Bella a smile. "Well, that's the great thing about being in college. All the guys here are so not young….well, maybe emotionally…" Alice joked. Bella laughed.

"True," she nodded. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," both chorused. The door opened to reveal a dressed down Rosalie, who had changed into sweatpants and a tank top, indicating it was now time for girls' night. Alice and Bella decided to follow Rosalie's example of comfort. Alice excused herself to the restroom with pajamas in hand. Bella decided to keep Rose's company and simply shed her self conscious feelings as she turned her back on Rosalie and kept up conversation while changing.

"So," Rosalie said once Alice was out of the room, "I wasn't sure if this was….um….okay to mention to Alice, but……Someone called me earlier," Rosalie said from her spot on Bella's bed.

"Oh?" Bella asked as she pulled on a tank top and maneuvered her bra off from under it.

"Yeah…." Rosalie said, her voice trailing off. "Someone on their way back to New York with his parents…." Rosalie said self consciously. Bella sat on the edge of her bed as she pulled off her jeans, grateful that Rosalie gave her privacy by facing the other direction.

"I see," Bella said as she caught on to what Rosalie meant.

"Yeah," Rosalie sighed. Bella pulled on a pair of cotton pants and turned to Rosalie now fully changed. Rosalie, feeling Bella shift on the bed, figured it was safe to face her now.

"Was it a good conversation?" Bella asked with a one shoulder shrug indicating she wasn't sure how else to respond. Rosalie smiled.

"Yeah," she said. "It was really great, actually." She giggled. "Emmett's really funny." Bella gave her a smile and nodded. Rosalie sighed as her smile faded. "There's just one problem," she said. "Alice."

"What about Alice?" Bella asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.

"I sort of got the feeling the other night she wasn't too keen with me and her brother doing….whatever," she said, shrugging as she didn't even know what she and Emmett were doing. "And….with the whole….sorority thing yesterday, I _really _don't need another reason for her not to like me."

"But you like him," Bella theorized, feeling that in this conundrum, Rosalie wasn't exactly willing to simply stop talking to Alice's eldest brother. Rosalie blushed. It stuck Bella as odd. Rosalie was a total knock out that exuded confidence. The nervous and self conscious stain on her cheeks seemed out of place on her perfect face.

"And therein lies the problem," Rosalie said. Bella nodded. "Do I tell Alice and risk her hating me…..or….keep it to myself and take things as they come?" Bella bit her lip, unsure what to make of this. She was a little confused by having Rosalie and her confidence, not to mention her being older than Bella, come to her for advice. She raked her teeth over her lower lip for a moment as she considered Rosalie's plight.

"Well, I…guess…." She muttered, unsure what to say for a moment. "I guess you should talk to Alice."

"You do?" Rosalie asked, dubious about this.

"Well, would you rather keep it to yourself and let Alice find out on her own?" Bella asked. She remembered the conversation she had had with Alice earlier that morning. Alice was not a fan of deception, and it was clear if Alice were to find out Rosalie had lied about whatever sort of relationship she was having with Emmett, it wouldn't be pretty.

"You're right," Rosalie said. "That could probably just make things worse." Bella nodded. "Now the questions is….when do I have this conversation with Alice?"

"Soon?" Bella figured. Rosalie quirked an eyebrow at her younger friend.

"And you don't think I should…prepare for this or something?" She asked, skepticism etching her tone.

"Well, would you rather we hung out tonight and she finds out from Emmett the next time she talks to him on the phone, ergo finding out you spent tonight lying?" Rosalie scrunched up her face at that.

"What if I told Emmett to…"

"Lie to his sister?" Bella asked. "Do you really want to be _that_ girl?" Rosalie's face scrunching increased.

"Okay, good point there," she said. She sighed. The door opened as Alice returned to the room. She had changed into her pajamas and washed off her makeup. She gave her friends a passing smile as she dumped the day's clothes into the hamper she had by her bed.

"You guys ready for some mani-pedi fun?" She asked, grinning to Bella and Rosalie. The two chuckled as Alice went to retrieve her case of nail polishes and skin treatments. Bella cast a look towards Rosalie and tilted her head in Alice's direction. Rosalie pursed her lips and shook her head. She mouthed a quick 'later' to Bella before looking back at Alice. Bella gave a quiet sigh. She hoped, for Rosalie's sake, that Alice would be okay with whatever interactions were going on between Emmett and Rosalie.

Bella's attention was caught by the sound of Alice sliding out a big case, much like the ones that she pulled out with her DVDs the night before, from under her bed.

"Wow, that's a lot of polish," Rosalie remarked with a chuckle as she slid off of Bella's bed to get a closer look at Alice's things. Alice grinned and gave her a little shrug.

"I like having a lot of options," she said. Bella smiled and got off her bed to join the two of them. The three girls sat cross-legged around the case. The room was filled with the soft clinking of the tiny nail polish bottles hitting one another as they looked through the array. Bella initially went for a clear color, only to have it plucked from her fingers by Alice who slid a powder blue shade in her hand in its place. Rosalie giggled at the face Bella made as she chose a cherry red color for herself.

"Alright, Bella, hand over your footsies," Alice playfully commanded as she pulled out a smaller velvet case and set it down in front of her. She opened it up to reveal a pristine manicure and pedicure set, equipped with every nail care tool one might need: emery boards, nail files, cuticle sticks, clippers, and some others that Bella herself wasn't familiar with. Bella took a deep breath, suddenly fearing what she'd gotten herself into.

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**AN: Hope this was enough to sort of fill the CD void for now. I wanted to write more but figured since I'd made you guys wait this long I'd better get this chapter up ASAP, lol. I'm going to try to get the next chapter written before the end of this week since next week I start summer class *and* will also be working a temp job that week so won't be able to write much. So, if the new chapter isn't up by the end of this week, expect it sometime during the week of the 20****th****. **


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